The Crusade of the Lost
by Ninoslav
Summary: A fleet of Imperial reinforcements, Mechanicus detachment and a chapter of White Eagles meant for Cadian sector are swallowed in the unruly sea that is Warp caused by the Great Game of the Protector of Mankind against the Chaos Gods. They emerge into a new universe, one without the Emperor, their faith strong, they will see this galaxy conquered.
1. Chapter 1: Out of the Warp,into Hell

Chapter 1: Out of the warp, into the hell

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. hope diminished long ago, and the Emperor has all but closed his eyes to the horrors that assail him from all sides, but he still refuses to give in, he still believes in his infinite wisdom that humanity can achieve victory, in his mind thousands of outcomes in the Great game occur every second, each more grim than the last without him to directly lead humanity to victory.

He plots, he schemes, he is trying to outplay the great players in the warp, he senses their determination, their eagerness to consume trillions of human souls upon his death, so he refuses to die. he full well knows that his death would cause his soul to swell in the warp and to become the bulwark against the horror, but he also knows that his death would cause the collapse of the Imperium from the inevitable super warp storms that would make warp travel impossible for centuries if not more, and in extension, the death of Mankind to the various xenos vying for revenge around the galaxy.

Billions of fanatics dying in his name, as well as millions of psykers sacrificed to him over the millennia have granted him unparalleled powers. he knows more now as a corpse on a sickening golden throne than he ever knew during his prime years during the Great Crusade. He tries something new, bold, but not quite foolish, Something that will give Humanity a chance at fighting...a chance at winning. He proceeds with his plan, much to the anger of the chaotic furies which scream and howl against his decision, he issues them just a second of his gaze and they recoil in pain, burnt by his holy light in the darkest pits of the warp, in an instant he feels the souls of all mankind, for they are his, and he is theirs, their Father, their Guardian...their God.

Khorne attempts to thwart his attempts by lashing against the Emperor's psychic presence personally, his Axe misses the golden projection as the Emperor dodges to the left, the impact causing billions of daemons to die from sheer anger Khorne unleashed in the impact. the Emperor's mouth open,eyes glowing yellow eminating his psychic essence, and he shouts with such intensity that the warp shudders at the unleashed raw energy, trillions of human souls shout through the Emperor, they defy the will of Chaos and even Khorne himself takes pause for a moment at the sheer psychic power of the being in front of him, his momentary indecision costs him his chance at stopping the Anathema. Enough time to finish his work ,the Emperor thinks for himself.

Slaanesh attempts to seduce the Emperor and distract his attention from the effort he is committing at saving Mankind, he/she takes the form of the most beautiful being that ever existed or will exist in the warp and in the materium, such was the radiant beauty of slaanesh that its fellow chaos Gods admired form that was unlike the most glorious artwork ever done. he/she presents itself to the Emperor, no God or mortal could resist such sight, such was his confidence ,Slaanesh extended his arms as a lover would tempting the Emperor. He gives Slaanesh a single look, before diverting it and just smiling, such was his self control that no beauty could replace his love for Mankind and their mission in securing the existence for his people and the future for their children. Slaanesh was beyond himself with anger, his form was so perfect that he couldnt believe what just occurred, such was his rage at this failure that he defaced most beautiful artworks in his pleasure palace and went about mutilating his most beautiful daemonetes, his rage was such that it would give Khorne pause at the sight. Consumed with envy and pride, Slaanesh could no longer concentrate on the Emperor, for the first time in its existence Slaanesh doubted himself and sealed himself inside his Palace, much to the wailing and psychic pain it caused his followers whom felt lost without their daemonic God.

Nurgle attempted to corrupt The Emperors plan, to spoil it and cause it to turn inwards and rot and fester, the Grandfather realized what the Emperor wanted to do, and he reached with his hand, smile on his rotten face, from his crooked teeth foul liquids flew freely across his decaying chin, his hand extended at the psychic manifestation of the plan, his touch can corrupt anyone and anything, if he could spoil it all at the beginning, the plan would fail, and the Emperor would be humiliated, so he extended the hand and touched it. but to his surprise instead of spreading corruption, he burnt himself, in pain he recoiled and withdrew his hand, it was on fire and glowing yellow, he bellowed a guttural howl before extinguishing his hand in the putrid swamps of his domain, the horror didn't end there for his hand showed signs of healing, new skin had appeared, bones mended and began to take form, and he realized how foolish it was from him to reach out for the Anathema's psychic will. He noticed the place in the swamps where his arm was extinguished had healed as well, crystal clear water erupted to the surface and grass swayed in the open. Instead of spreading corruption, he himself would now have to battle Anathema's poison, as he went about spreading rot and spoiling his own arm, he realized why he has failed. You cannot corrupt such pure source of Light, not so quickly. His overeagerness and overconfidence caused him to fail, and now Nurgle would not be able to assist his brothers in this battle, his sights set on the most abominable sight in his vicinity, the gardens of nurlge began to recover from their taint, and he would need all his efforts to stop this insidious occurance.

Tzeentch was the most dangerous opponent, for he could manipulate and fight anathema on his own ground. He battled with the Emperor with his mind, on billions of planets, in billions of dimensions, their fight was happening for eternity, or was it a minute that they fought? for in Warp, time is just another myth. He teased and tricked, twisted and foiled as the Emperor attempted to make his plan take shape. and so it was that Tzeentch caused million outcomes to happen and million probabilities to occur at the same time, he would confuse the Emperor, forcing him to chose the wrong way to manifest his plan, and in doing so, ruin his hope for Mankind. in one moment the Emperor finished his work, Tzeentch was beyond himself with happiness, for he made the Emperor chose wrong, he knew it, he felt it, the Emperor made a mistake. he was eager to see what ruinous future he caused the Emperor to chose for his plan. Tzeentch was laughing and watching at the fast passage of time in the palm of his hand, eager to see how the Emperors plan would fall. As he watched his face turned from one of pure joy to one of absolute terror. in millions of different outcomes in various plans he made, this was a future he did not present the Master of Mankind, he could not turn his gaze away from the future not of his own making as he saw what would happen. he saw trillions of humans, they were united in one mind and purpose, led by a golden light they have cast down the false idols, burnt the traitors, and together, free from the tyranny of mind, free from superstition and ignorance, united their soul power with their technology, and sealed the warp rift known as the Eye of terror, slowly but surely other warp rifts followed, one by one, they disappeared ,and at one point, the humans were no longer felt in the warp, they were free from its influence, the Gods were now alone, left to starve in the hellish dimension of their own making, unable to ever again influence the world of Man and the Materium, one last shout was heard as Tzeentch gazed in disbelief "Terra, Aeterna, Aeterna, VICTRIX!". and at that moment he closed the palm of his hand violently and screamed "Nooo!" pure warp essence exploding from his body, psychic backlash burnt the minds of psykers in materium in their thousands on the side of Chaos, as they were overwhelmed. the echo of his shout carried on to the Astronomican and any creature with the presence in the warp shuddered at such projection of power.

"How could this be!?" Tzeentch shouted, still burning with warp magic. he searched for the Emperor and saw that he was not there to begin with, he swiped violently his hand at the form that he assumed to be the Emperor, only to realize it was just a projection as it dissipated with his swing. in that second Tzeentch realized that he was tricked by the Anthema, as he battled with the Emperors mirage form, the real Emperor made his plan and had set it into motion in the Materium. This effort was madly painful and tiring for the Emperor, but it had to be done. The Master of Mankind has won, and Tzeentch was fooled, his fellow Gods lost this battle.

The Emperor didnt knew what will occur in the future of his plan like Tzeentch did, but he knew his sons, and he knew their determination and stubbornness to survive at all costs, wherever they appear after their descent in the whirlpool of time and space, they would be victorious, and should fate wishes it, they would one day return to him, and armed with new knowledge and experience deliver a death blow to Chaos, once and for all. Emperor thought to himself of what he said once upon a time in one of his many mortal shells that he wore in life. "Alea Iacta Est". Indeed, the Die was cast. another swipe of the page, another roll of the dice, in the Eternal Game for the soul of Mankind.

A Warp storm was brewing.

And in the real space, a small fleet of Mechanicus, Imperial guardsmen and Space marines have joined their ships and entered Warp, bound for Cadia, they would never arrive there. Their fate was elsewhere, and the outcome of this Crusade into the unknown would rest solely on the backs of these lost souls whom realized they have entered the warp just as the storm was occurring. The techpriests attempted to disengage the warp drives and exit into the real space, but they were so close to the eye of the storm that it was impossible to do so. They could only pray and hope they survive the exit as the storm swallowed the small fleet whole.

The Emperor saw it all happening, his tired form has won another victory, one of the trillion that occurred during his entombment into the Golden Throne, the Chaos Gods were angrier than before, and he was not ready to yield and die, not while Mankind believed in him. The Great Game continues...

The travel was supposed to last for a few months at best, or so the navigators said. The travel lasted for years, or centuries, or maybe days, for no one is sure how the time flows in the warp. As they exited into the materium, the entire crew screamed in unison, the psychic shock was hardest on the navigators ,then the psykers, and even the normal humans felt it.

Some died from the stress of the exit, to be known in the history as the " The Separation". For all have felt it in one way or another, the glow of the Astronomican was gone. the blessed light of the Emperor was nowhere.

As much as they have tried to establish contact with the wider Imperium, there was only silence. The leadership of the expedition contemplated on the next move, as they have done, the ship scanners noticed a small vessel nearby, engaged in asteroid mining. One of the leaders of the expedition ordered the vessel captured and its pilot brought for questioning, and it was done so. The vessel was brought to one of the mechanicus ships, and now its Magos was headed there for questioning.

He met with one of the techpriests in the docking bay.

"Do we have it?"

"Yes, most honorable Magos, She…It is in operation room."

"Good, I want to see it now."

As Magos walked through narrow corridors, he could hear the screams of a female, only this female was not human.

He entered what was a large room, in it a dozen techpriests were huddled around a blue skinned female xeno, probing and dissecting her, while she was still alive, unseddated.

Magos came closer, and with semi-robotic voice spoke to crying xeno.

"Tell me xeno, where are we?"

"P-please, what do you want from me!? Shrieked the xeno."

"I am the one asking the questions Xeno, next time you interrupt me, I will snuff your organic life out, now I ask you again, where are we?"

"T-this is the system Eluna, northern most system inhabited by my race, A-Asari."

"Eluna? There is no system named Eluna, imperial or Xeno in my database, are you lying to me xeno?"

"N-no, I swear, I swear to goddess I am not lying, this is Eluna, colony of 13 000 Asari colonists, just on the borders of citadel space."

"What is this…Citadel space you just mentioned?"

"It…it…urgh," the xeno started convulsing, the shock from pain finally got to her, Magos showed no emotion to the suffering of this female Asari, and spoke to one of his fellow techpriests in his ever cold voice.

"Administer sufficient dosage of regenerative liquids, I need this xeno alive..for now at least."

The medicine flew from one of techpriests metal fingers into Asari bloodstream, the seemingly dead Asari gasped for breath, coughing, and spitting blood. The Asari took few seconds to see where she is, hoping all of this was a nightmare, and then her gaze landed upon Magos that was piercing her with his metallic gaze.

"Welcome back xeno, death won't be your salvation yet, I have more questions, and you must answer them."

Asari screamed from pure terror , tears started rolling down her pale and bruised cheeks, knowing, that this nightmare, won't end.

"If you are done yelling foul creature, I would hear answer, what is this Citadel Space?"

Still crying, Asari began, speaking in great details, spoke of races living in it, Turians, Asari, Salarians, Volus, Elkor, and then of Terminus systems, as the xeno continued speaking, Magos s' facial expressions never changed, not until the Asari mentioned humans living in the same citadel space. Still, Magos was curious and kept on listening, Xeno continued on with its rambling, mentioned some AI invasion called , Reapers, and how they are coming to this system, after it was done talking Magos spoke to one of his brothers priests.

"It seems the Warp didn't only threw us in time, it threw us in another galaxy, perhaps dimension. The space this, united xeno coalition holds, is engulfing most of our Imperium; I can only assume what happened to humanity in this galaxy."

"Chaos is unpredictable brother Magos," spoke another techpriest, "our fleet was purposely ejected into this time stream, into this, xeno infested galaxy, 13th black crusade is still progressing, and our fleet was to support one of the first planets in its way, now the planet will fall…"

"Not if we manage to return back to our galaxy, there are over 14 ships in our fleet, 3 of them are carrying Legio Titanicus, we even have a space marine chapter with us, I've sent for brother captain Tesla of the White Eagles to join us in our interrogation, he should be arriving soon."

"I am not so certain we can travel back to our universe honorable Magos, after warp ejected us 10 days ago, we couldn't dive back into it, like…like there was no warp at all, our navigators are confused, they don't see the current of the warp, they say "everything is a straight line, no sea of warpic energies, I can't navigate through something that doesn't exist" Its pure luck we were close to this system, our faster than light speed is very slow compared to our warp drives."

"Have our brothers disassembled the vehicle this xeno was piloting?"

"Yes most honorable Magos, the technology is nothing seen in our galaxy, their warp drives are none existent, their faster than light travel needs some sort of catalyst to travel from system to system, we still don't know what is needed to launch this kind of ship into another system. And their weapons are highly primitive, the pistol we took from this xeno would have a trouble breaching a typical Imperial Guards armour, let alone a space marine one."

"Did the colonists on the planet noticed our fleet in this system?"

"Hard to tell honorable Magos, we are using sun's radiation to hide from their sensors, from what our brothers discovered, the ship this xeno was piloting was a mining vessel, it was gathering the minerals from asteroid belt when it stumbled upon us."

"That planet…we need that planet as a vantage point, as a base of operations in this galaxy, the technology for making servitors is known to us even this far from Emperor s'light, maybe we can alter the brain patterns of this xeno kind, use them for hard labour, prepare this galaxy and shape it in the light of the Emperor and Omnisiah."

"What about the xeno we questioned most honorable Magos, maybe we can use it?"

"Perhaps we can…Tell our brothers to implant brain inhibitors inside its skull, make it subservient to us if possible, if not, purge this life form from my vessel."

"Yes honorable Magos, praise the Omnisiah."

"Praise the Omnisiah," responded Magos.

As Magos exited the operation room, he saw a servitor approaching him.

"Execute command, information, consign information to Magos."

"Give me the information brother", spoke Magos.

"Information extraction beginning, Brother Tesla of the White Eagles, has arrived; he requests your presence in the docking bay. End of Information extraction."

The Servitor turned back, its human parts were almost utterly replaced by holy machine of the Omnisiah ,and Magos began walking towards the docking bay, after many minutes of walking, Magos finally arrived, and was greeted by a strong dark haired Marine his red,blue and white armor was decorated with purity seals, his retinue composed of 2 tactical marine brothers were standing behind their captain.

"Praise the Emperor, Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus."

"Praise the Emperor, Tesla, of his Angels of Death, his Adeptus Astartes, the White Eagles."

"I have heard you gathered a xeno on your vessel, assuming you extracted all the necessary information out of it, I would hear what you know."

"Of course," coldly replied Magos, he began talking, from the beginning, everything the xenos told, Magos spoke to the marine, not altering a single word, his software remembering everything.

"So, you are saying we are not in the same galaxy as the Holy Terra? As Imperium of Man?"

"Precisely brother marine, the ruinous powers are tricky, they have ejected our fleet into this heinous universe, and we must find a way to jump back into warp, only the problem is, there is no warp to begin with."

"I see, but we still need that staging ground, a new HQ in this place. The planet bellow us shall be conquered, 13000 people is nothing against the might of the Emperor. Though, we could use some more info about the city we shall assail."

"Fret not captain, I have something that will assist you, follow me."

After walking back to the operation room, Magos asked one of the techpriests idling about.

"Was the operation a success, is the xeno subservient?"

"Yes most honorable Magos, the inhibitor was well received by the psyche of this creature, Emperor forgive me, its synapses were quite similar to ours."

"Well done techpriest, we shall take the xeno from here."

The Asari was standing with metal plates and wires protruding from its head, its eyes almost lifeless, lacking independent will, it managed to utter, "I-I Live to serve the Omnisiah."

Magos couldn't help but smile.

Authors note: Friends, Imperials, Countrymen! Lend me your ears! if you have reached the end of this chapter, i congratulate you. I as an Author depend much on your criticism and reviews, i do not need follows or favorites, such are trivial things, i need your voices, your shouts and critique, so i implore you ,as an adept of the mechanicus, and a amateur writer, to help me in my quest for perfecting my art, and to do that, i need your voices to be heard. comment your opinions, because like you enjoy reading my story, i in turn very much adore what you write about my story. so feel free to speak about this, and other chapters as we strive to achieve something great together. thank you.


	2. Chapter 2: The invasion begins

Chapter 2: The invasion begins

The asari interrogation was quick, the being had no choice in the matter, it said all it knew, condemning the entire planet, as the asari spoke of the population of the planet, their skills, weapons and purpose, a single tear streamed from its eye, but the lips kept moving, speaking, its body and mind not its own. After it was done, the asari was still, only a dry mark of the tear left on its cheek.

Magos made a simple gesture with his finger, and the asari stood up, and began following the duo.

"Are you truly certain this being is under your control." Said Tesla gazing upon the near drooling asari, whose eyes show nothing of the original inhabitant of this now soulless body.

Magos, briskly gazing upon the blue humanoid before continuing to walk with Tesla to the ship bridge ,said.

"Quite so. Even if it doesn't look that way, this creature may yet be of use."

"I live to serve", the asari uttered without an inkling of emotion.

"Indeed you do xeno", Magos responded uncaringly.

They arrived on the starship bridge, the crew working feverishly with the new information they have received, prayers and incantations could be heard, they were nowhere near the Emperors light, their father and guardian was absent, and the only thing holding their sanity together was the duty they had to the Imperium.

As Tesla and Magos entered the bridge, the myriad of officers and technicians greeted them with the sign of Aquila made with their hands on their chest.

Approaching the red priest of mars was a man in the naval uniform handing him a parchment of paper, before saluting and returning to his post.

Unraveling the folded paper, the bionic eyes of the leader of the mechanicus on this vessel gazed upon the writing, what lobotomized xeno told them was correct, the asari on the planet were clueless about the presence of the fleet, they were going on their daily business, ignorant of what was coming to them.

"Brother captain, it is time." Said Magos handling the scroll to one of the crew, "this planet must be taken in the name of the Imperium."

"Indeed it must", said Tesla, "we will use shock and awe, the element of surprise is one our side, according to your report, the enemy complex consists of what we can assume is the town center, a security complex and various civilian buildings. We will handle this, deep striking at these two important buildings, severing the head of the enemy before it is capable of forming any resistance."

"Most excellent brother captain," said Magos, "but I must insist, if you will forgive me, the collateral damage should be kept to a minimum, these creatures, while abominable, can be used for construction of the necessary equipment if we are to expand out of the solar system."

Tesla gazed upon the hooded magos, what he suggested was borderline heresy, but survival of the expedition is paramount. He knew they would need everything they can use in order to achieve victory. "May the Emperor forgive us all, for what we must do, in order to ensure our success", said the marine, turning away and walking from the bridge, his marines would be waiting for him. The war has come to Elona.

It was near midnight on Elona, the two sister moons of the planet cast an ivory glow on the planet, the colony was fast asleep, only asari children and few guards,were still awake, gazing at the stars as they moved across the heaven.

One of the children stood up and pointed at the beautiful sight before them.

It was a meteor shower, it painted the night sky in colors of red, and yellow, the lights were painting across the night sky,much to the amusement of the children present to witness it.

One of them even made a wish.

But the meteor shower didn't burn out, the glow was brighter, the flames bigger, almost as if the skies were falling closer to the ground.

Scant moments later the boom produced by the fast approaching pods broke the sound barriers and before the innocent eyes of the children could gaze away, crashed onto the ground, in a hail of fire and death. Lightning the ground and many buildings on fire as they have done so.

Then the real disaster struck. The pods flung open, and from it came its deadly cargo, eyes glowing red, their red,blue and white, armor made more prominent by the glow of fire and the sister moons, the White Eagles arrived, before anyone could react beyond hypnotically staring at the armor clad giants, there was fire, and there was pain.

Those few guards present were slaughtered before raising the weapon at the champions of Mankind. The marines were fast, much faster than the asari could react, many were caught at gunpoint as they jumped out of the bed by the marines who stormed the common habitat buildings and captured Asari for the further use by Magos and his tech priests.

The security attachment present at the building, struggled to arm themselves before the coming onslaught, but the hab roof of the freshly made buildings was no match for the weight and rage of the assault marines of the third company, who used their jump packs and slammed as one onto the building, collapsing the roof and falling inside on the confused and panicking asari security detail. They stood no chance.

The blades worked, the bolters sang, and the death claimed all inside the building, the only evidence of the marine passing was gore and blood. The Emperors angels of Death, were not his angels of mercy.

The governor of this small colony stood up from her bed, naked, she ran up to the window and gazed out of the town hall, the colony was on fire, and armored beings were gathering all asari at gunpoint. And some were running towards the town hall, were they the Reaper soldiers, she thought? Captivated by the fast occurring madness before her, she was shaken out of the state she was in by the breaking door of her room. At the door stood Tesla, his right arm carrying the artifact sword of his chapter, The Kosovan Blade, made during the times of the great crusade.

She could do nothing but stare, breathing hardly and harshly, fear grasped her heart, and consumed her thoughts. She felt nothing but transhuman dread filling her very soul.

"I would have a word", said Tesla, as he approached the shaking asari, slapping her, just enough to concuss her, and not kill her, she felt to the ground, and was dragged away by the leg, screaming.

By the coming of the dawn, the colony was taken. Near 400 asari who put the resistance were dead, marines had no casualties, the rest were captured, the rising sun saw countless ships of Magos and his Tech priests descending upon the arid planet.

Then the construction begin, asari have assembled quite the materials from the asteroid mining and what they brought from their ships, even cannibalizing their own space vessels provided a modicum of materials.

But it was not enough.

Tech priests began working, tearing down what was once homes for the fleeing aliens. Dozens at first, hundreds by the end of the day, asari were dragged into the ships of the mechanicus, they entered screaming, at first. They existed subservient, and began working, until their limbs gave up and their bodies died, they would work for the imperial war effort. And even then, death was not salvation, for machine is stronger than flesh.

The next batches seeing what happened to their race came far less willingly into the mechanicus ships, but still, they entered inside, soiling and attempting to kill themselves as they were dragged by the iron hands of the tech priests, amused as to the prospect of having so many subjects on which to experiment.

Planet was aptly renamed to Indomitus, unbreakable, like the spirit of its new inhabitants, it was here where the sons of the Emperor would make their presence known upon the galaxy.

Governor of the Asari was brought to the improvised cell with one more of its race by one of the tactical marines, and locked inside. She was naked her jaw bruised and bleeding, she came closer to another asari to whom she asked a simple question.

"What is going on?"

"I don't know miss T'yala. It all happened so fast, my guard detail was slaughtered to the woman, I would consider myself lucky for being unconscious by the debris falling on top of me, but I am not sure it is appropriate for the situation we find ourselves in."

Governor, her jaw still aching and her vision blurry could only ask simple questions. "What are they", she mused through great pain, as her lips parted, blood flew in trickles, and words left her mouth.

"I thought they were reapers, spoke the second asari, but I saw humans among them. I am not certain…"

T'yala's thoughts started wandering, and the words of the other asari became quieter and quieter until she couldn't hear them. her mind raced, who was this new enemy? were they the mythical reapers?

Reapers were still a myth to the galaxy, she thought, scribbles of text and Prothean remnant artifacts spoke of them, but nobody saw or knew about them beyond that. Save for a few afraid people in the cosmos who sought to escape this phantom enemy by forming colonies in the furthest reaches of the galaxy, the rest of the galactic population simply didn't care.

It is no surprise these isolated colonies were often targets of pirates, raiders, various xenos who lust for flesh and blood of the other beings.

The sudden sound of the metal footsteps shook her from her delirious state,and the cell doors cracked open, the metal squealed as the doors parted letting in a huge figure of Tesla coming through. His face visible without the helmet he usually carried.

"It is time to speak xeno", his gaze fixated on the governor, cold and commanding, his gaze was as strong as a weapon he carried by his side , she began to slightly shake, sheer fear consuming her from this imposing being in front of her.

"You..you are a human? But why…" The second asari spoke, disturbing the painful silence that issued upon Marine's entry.

"I am the one asking questions xeno!" his thunderous voice echoed strongly in the small cell. "Another word and I will see you speak no more."

Second asari was dumbstruck, she gazed at the frightened governor, her instincts kicked in, and in her moment of defiance ,screaming, she gathered her biotic powers and lunged a ball of pure energy at the marine, who ever coldly and quicker than the eye could see dodged to the side.

Before she could do anything or utter a word, the figure of the marine closed the distance grasping the head of the defiant prisoner with his hand, and lifted her up, the struggle didn't last a second later, as her head burst apart like a ripe watermelon when the Angel of death applied pressure, splattering blood and gore all over his beautiful armor and the naked governor, who could only look in terror at the sight before her.

Moments later the marine dismissively tossed the corpse against the wall on the other side of the cell, who cracked like a doll under the impact.

His gaze met the frightened being ,who in her fear assumed a crouched position in the opposite corner of the cell.

"Now…" he spoke. "I would hear a few things from you."

He walked to her, in her mind his footsteps were like thunderbolts, each new one resonating like a hammer upon a steel.

Coming closer, he commander her "Stand up and speak xeno, withhold nothing, for if i notice a speck of lies coming from you, there are far worse ways to make you speak than simple incentive in words."

Tears strolling from her eyes, she gazed upon the metal giant standing over her for a moment,inclined to obey she began standing up, her legs felt like lead, still naked, she clumsily covered her breasts and started standing up, only now noticing she has soiled herself.

He noticed she was uncomfortable, knowing the information would be partial due to her emotional imbalance he came to the broken asari on the ground and ripped her cloak off with one swift motion, again approaching the governor before throwing it into her arms.

Taking the cloak of her dead comrade, the governor wiped herself swiftly and covered her naked figure, her gaze then met those of a marine and asked.

"W-what do you want to know?" unsteady words parting from her mouth.

"Everything" the marine stoically responded.

And so she talked, delivering information upon information to the patient marine, who did not change his facial expression as he learned of this new galaxy, ripe for conquest in the name of the Imperium of Man.

By the time she said everything a long time has passed, the marine still silently stood watching over her, as if seeking if she was honest or not much to the horror of the asari fearing her imminent demise.

He then turned towards the exit and began walking, "you live another day asari, cherish this moment." he spoke before leaving the cell, two techpriests ran quickly into it taking and dragging the corpse of another xeno and taking it with them for who knows what experiments.

The cell doors were now locked, leaving inside only the governor whom only now realized the gravity of the situation, and silence was upon her. she sat in the corner of the cell, grasping her face with her hands, the silence was now broken with sounds of crying.

And on the outside the ground was getting filled with imperial ships descending and marking the fate of an entire Asari population on Indomitus, and soon, that of the entire galaxy.


	3. Chapter 3:The unexpected guests

Chapter 3: The Unexpected guests.

Star system Elona, few years later…

The ship Rakaman, roughly translated as the Blood Jewel from the tongue of the Batarians, is not new to the tortured souls who travel its darkened corridors, for years it has served as a slave gatherer, the screams of captured, beaten or tortured slaves are a common sound to it as the hum of its own engines. This ship now stands at the very outskirts of the Elona star system, if the intel of this ships commander is correct, there is a whole planet of slaves waiting for him to collect.

In his personal quarters, its ship captain was busy with his new toy, a human slave captured a month ago from one of the more isolated human colonies was now causing much amusement to the lord of this horrid vessel. Mutilated beyond common reason, the human was lacking his reproductive organ, tongue, his eyes opened permanently with few steel hooks holding them up, red from pain, his chest cavity open with his beating heart visible, and yet kept alive by some xeno technique, only sounds coming from the human were gurgling noises, as it lacked tongue or strength to scream.

Batarian war lord sat on his chair, and gazed into the open chest of the human like some depraved art, imbedded deep into his own thoughts, with beating of the human heart as the only noise echoing his cabin, he was shaken from his stupor by the com system coming to life.

"Lord Rakoshi, we have arrived at the system. We await your orders on the bridge", a rasp voice common to the batarian echoed through the com.

He lingered a few seconds before pressing the button and responding. "I will arrive shortly", only response from the other side was, "yes my lord."

Silently standing up from the chair, he approached the tied human, raised its head, and gazed into its raw red eyes from crying and suffering, before speaking.

"I release you."

At that moment, his other hand grasped the beating heart of the human, before crashing it in his hand, causing instant death, human gargled for the last time before sweet release of death claimed him.

Rakoshi left the room and headed towards the bridge, he will have plenty of new toys on the planet before him.

Few days have passed as the slaver fleet drifted ever closer to the planet, according to their info, it was a small colony of asari who hid there from some mythical threat, how foolish from them. There were much realer dangers in the vast emptiness of space.

Their approach was uncontested, as expected from a group of refugees. Rakoshi gazed at the description of the planet on his omni computer, arid terran like planet, nothing special about it, they located the refugee settlement, rather large, but the detailed scanning was obstructed, his officer spoke that it might be magnetism of the planet blocking detailed scans. Rakoshi was silent, as he planned his next move, this was not the first time he invaded a world, his 40 ship fleet have seen dozen or so worlds fall to them, this one would be no different.

He decided that a landing force 15000 strong would land not far from the colony and proceed on foot with light vehicle support, he would not use transport ships on top of the colony for fear of anti air batteries taking a huge toll on his men.

After all, his men needed a bit of fun after 3 months in space, this combat exercise will do them good.

As the preparations were ready and transport ships started their descent, dawn was on the horizon, the last one colonists would see. Rakoshi led from the front, this brought him much respect from his men, and fear as well, for those who retreated suffered worse fates than death.

The ship descent was not harassed by anti air, seems like Rakoshi's fear was unfounded, troop transports were quickly emptied, and this huge force of 15 000 batarian slavers advanced upon the colony. When the colony appeared on the horizon, it was unlike anything they have ever seen, buildings were built from stone, marble, in shapes unlike anything that races in the galaxy built. They were large, and decorated with the shapes of dual headed version of human eagle. Confused, but undeterred they advanced onward, upon the plain in front of the city, a single laser beam punched against the soldier of the batarian army, breaking its shield, and frying his chest organs as it carved into the armor. This caused a momentary stop in the army, before all hell broke lose.

Upon the army, hundreds of laser beams flashed, and began killing the advancing batarians, who upon the ensuing hell began running faster, some for cover, other to cover the distance to kill, firing all sorts of armaments they carried, against what they expected to be a bunch of no good colonists who dare defy them.

Rakoshi slammed himself upon the nearby rock, covering from the laser carnage that was brighter than the rising sun. His confusion soon turned to anger, and his anger escalated as the laser barrage was accompanied by mass driver weapons that upon impact with his men caused an explosion, resulting in gore and organs flying everywhere.

He was losing men, and fast. The colonists were much more equipped than expected, he imagined chocking the life out of the salarian who sold him the information, if only he could escape from here.

Fire was coming from all places now, bolter shells, lasgun volleys, and soon auto turrets turned on and unleashed their deadly ammunition upon the batarian army, who was beginning to buckle and crack even as it fired back at its foe.

Then, something happened, the ground quaked, and the slowly advancing batarians gazed upon the sight of their worst nightmares. from the city marched, stomping out, something batarians, or yet any of this galaxy's species have seen. The God Machine.

Warlord Titan, Julianus Victrix, was now clear to engage. His massive canon charging as it pointed at dumbstruck batarians.

It was the glow of a thousand suns, and sound of a thousand artillery shells exploding, as the colossal armament fired. And where it struck, nothing lived at that point.

There was a rout, this was too much even for slavers who have seen many of the galaxy's horrors, Rakoshi began falling back with his men, cursing in all 16 dialects of the batarians against the enemy that pushed him back.

They were running towards their transport ships, in order to flee into orbit, from there, he will exact vengeance and bomb this planet into dust.

But it was at this moment that his com system flared to life, it was a cacophony of voices and screams and hails for help, for the fleet in orbit was unexpectedly attacked from both space and ground, hidden anti space batteries came to life and began firing onto the ships in orbit, doing catastrophic damage. To make matters worse, they were attacked by the unknown vessels that hid in the solar shade of the sun, hidden from their sensors. Even now, boarding torpedoes impacted upon the biggest vessels and marines invaded the ships, causing havoc and killing its unprepared crew.

Rakoshi's chances of survival grew dim with each second, he has to escape, he wont die on some rock in the middle of nowhere, he will escape, gather a bigger army and come back for vengeance.

The escaping batarians were attacked from all sides, marines joined the fray on their jump packs, and land speeders, some transports didn't even wait for the troops to reach them as they broke for orbit in their attempts to escape, cut short by the anti air batteries who began cutting them down, scant few escaped into orbit where even worse sight awaited them.

The batarian army tried to resist this overwhelming foe, but as they fired, the marines approached, their chainswords roaring with anger, cutting viciously into the flesh, plasma and melta weapons melting the frightened xenos in their armor much to the horror of their comrades.

Rare few, foolish, crazy, or brave, or all combined, of the batarians charged with their melee weapons against the marines, slave whips whistling in their hands as they tried fighting the unstoppable tide of death. Who were just too fast for the batarians, it was a gruesome show, marines ripped their enemies apart, limb for limb, spines were pulled out of the screaming four eyed humanoids, some even decided that they would use their hands to slaughter the enemies of Man, gruesomely rip and tearing their enemy. The horror of that melee would scar the galaxy, if any batarian could have survived it.

Reaching his ship Rakoshi could only observe as it rose to the skies, and on the ground fleeing, dead and dying slavers could be seen, killed by armored giants, and masses of soldiers coming out of the city to join in the purge, as the rain of lasfire ever persisted, massacring those few who sought to resist the oncoming imperial guard.

Countless transport ships flew to the sky, but so much were destroyed before they reach the orbit, he was not out of the danger yet, as his fleet was not faring much better, more than half of the ships in orbit were destroyed, both by the marines and ground based defenses. Faced with unwinnable odds, Rakoshi's orders were simple, Run. What remained of the fleet started backing from the planetary orbit and into space.

Just as he reached the nearest ship, his personal ship being too far to reach, he ordered it to speed towards the mass relay, his gaze shifting through the termo glass, he could see on the portside, that his flagship Rakaman had reached critical mass, and the engines caused an explosion. His ship will never fly again, death glow of the 500 meter long ship illuminated Indomitus for the last time, before the mass effect drive explosion collapsed the ship inwards in an explosion unlike any other.

He cursed in all the languages he knew, before uncontrollably yelling and impacting the termo glass of the ship with his fists, he could not lament though, as the fleet of the imperium turned their sights on those few ships who still remained, sprinting to the bridge, all the while ships around him were torn asunder by the persistent imperial volleys of energy and steel. he took personal control of the small ship, yelling to switch all power to the engines. his crew obeyed, and they were speeding towards the ancient gateway, barely dodging imperial vessels. he could see through the window as Krio'ta was split in half by the charging ship bearing the sign of aquila ramming it at full speed, this was utter madness he thought, he was even more determined to escape, sweating as everything around him died.

Hunted all the way to the relay, only 3 ships ,including the one he was in remained, and not 2 hours ago he approached the planet confident in his victory, and all he got was a crushing defeat.

As he started his mass effect engines, he could only swear upon revenge on his unknown enemies. But he was a pirate, assembling a new force would be hard, but not impossible. He would return, he promised, and win. Moments later, his ship was flying out of the system, as the third batarian frigate fell to the lance batteries of the Imperium's ships. Only 2 ships out of 40 escaped this battle. The imperium suffered no ship casualties and bare few of soldier deaths on the ground, without any marines being killed.

And on the bridge of the flagship of the Imperium, Vengeance of Dushan, Tesla, Admiral Tiberius and Magos observed the closing moments of this battle. Magos spoke first.

"Was it truly necessary, brother captain, making such a risk, just to test the combat capabilities of our enemies?"

"We are in an unknown galaxy, Magos, who knows what terrors we will face, we had to see the space and ground capabilities of our enemies." Responded Tesla, his eyes watching as the burning carcasses of the ship flew through the void.

"But letting them get this close to our base of operations was needlessly risky." Magos retorted. "They could have caused damage to our installations."

"They could have", he responded, "but were utterly incapable, as we have determined. Our enemies could not put a proper fight, xeno inferiority is once again shown."

"Time for hiding is over", Tesla added, "we have gathered our forces. Have your priests made alternations to our engines in order to use this xenos tech?"

"As much as it pained me to do so", magos said, his voice carrying a dose of worry, "and as heretical as it is. We have. Our ships can now use the relays of this galaxy to travel."

"Very Good", said tesla, his mouth smiling softly. "Admiral are we ready?"

Tiberius was a veteran of void warfare, walking onto his 3th century of life, having minimal amount of bionics, he was reputed for his cold demeanor and expertise in space warfare. His answer was short, yet carried the weight of a man who have seen thousands of battles.

"Yes my lord, we are ready."

Tesla stepped forwards, spreading his arms apart and speaking, his voice strong and carrying determination of his Gene father and that of the God emperor. His vox speech was carried to the planet's surface and on all ships in the fleet.

"Enemies of the Imperium, hear me! we are coming. You have dwelt too long in the darkness, we come to bring you light, and fire."

"Our faith, is our shield, our will is an ocean, and we will wash away all filth that dares stand against the soldiers of the Emperor!"

"We have judged you! And we have found you wanting. Expect our arrival."

"The Emperor protects."

From hundreds of thousands of throats in the fleet and in the planet, the response was heard. "The Emperor protects!"

Soon, the galaxy will know the war chant of the humanities finest.

The Crusade, has begun.


	4. Chapter 4:Crusade of the Aurelian system

Chapter 4: Crusade of the Aurelian system

The planet of Indomitus was bustling with activity, on its surface were built origins of the great manufactoriums of the mechanicus, churning weapons and crafting wonders of war.

The ever hungry forges were constantly fed with ore dug by the Asari servitors, who toiled for 20 hours daily, never tiring even when their bodies were strained to the limit. The caverns filled with the enslaved xenos were void of any noise except the machine tools crushing rocks in search of metals. Occasionally a tech priest would be seen moving swiftly in the deep caverns, checking the workers, repairing their metal parts and injecting regenerative liquids, they might have been xenos, but they are now useful tool of the Imperium, and will continue existing, so long as their purpose is fulfilled.

Captured ships of the batarians were carefully scuttled to the planet, and scraped of all metal so as to produce more goods for the imperium. Mere handful were used to transport men and resources, sanctified beforehand from the vile xenos who used them. From captured ships, many slaves were freed, human ones, after the shock of knowing who and what the imperium is ,swore new loyalties to their liberators, the xeno slaves continued as they were, joined by the surviving batarians, slaving in the mines and factories of their new masters.

Military barracks were built daily, housing the imperial guard present on the ships, each morning the sounds of soldiers training could be heard, they were alone in this galaxy, only each other to keep company, and such camaraderie must be strengthened.

White eagles supervised their training, teaching them in ways of war no common man could, they would need every advantage they could get in order to survive this hostile galaxy.

Tech priests were working daily and without rest, tinkering with the taken batarian and Asari technology, although this was Tech heresy, Magos assured them ,that this was necessary evil in order to fulfill the desires of the Omnisiah. Their disgust was evident, but they kept manipulating the retrieved tech to better suit the needs of the expedition. This bore fruit, as the armor of the guardsmen was upgraded with a small force field, similar to that of the citadel races, carapace armor is well and strong, and their faith will protect them, but having a shield generator in their armor doesn't hurt either.

Human population on the planet began to expand, as the mixture of women and men in the guard came to fruition, and first human children graced this arid plains with their laughter. Mechanicus gladly helped with the ever rising population, building cloning vats and giving fertility pills to the women that helped the fetus gestate far faster than it naturally would.

In orbit around the planet the ever hardworking priests built the template for what would become a ship yard, creating glorious vessels of humanity, even though these will take years to complete.

The leadership of the Imperial expedition was on the ground, planning the strike against the closest system named "Aurelian Primaris". "Information taken from the Asari and Batarian survivors was plentiful; the planet of Aurelian was home to over 10 million citizens, mostly Asari with traces of human and batarian. These humans could be recruited "spoke the Feld Marshal Romeluss.

"Human population goes between fifty, to hundred thousand." He continued speaking. "The industries on it produce common goods used by the various xenos across the galaxy, it has a small defense armada common to the asari, with patrol ships and ground troops. Ground to space defenses are not present, it would appear they didn't expect the planet to be endangered in any way, foolish, but welcome."

Romeluss went silent, and the podium was free for Tesla to take word.

"We will apply the same principle we used to take this planet, critically striking at the heart of their military compound, softening it up beforehand with orbital bombardment. Cutting the infrastructure at these points", he pointed at the map, "effectively isolating the portions of the megacity, each pocket will be dealt with the combine power of imperial guard and astartes. Romeluss, what of potential dangers to our system while we are going on a crusade?"

"The amount of ships warping from the relay into our system has subsided massively", said Romeluss, "my spies note that due to the isolationist nature of our system, governments of the closest planets suspect nothing, few attribute it to piracy, and rest are convinced they are lost due to black holes and other anomalies. We are safe for the time being."

"I must inquire",added Magos, "that any and all industrial centers be kept from damage, as they can be converted into manufactorums producing necessary goods for the war effort, it is not necessary to spare any xenos in this engagement. Their numbers will be equally great, even after the culling."

The commanders agreed, the plan would be fleshed out in the coming days. And then the invasion would begin.

It all began with a probe, a probe emitting a single cry for help, placed next to the mass relay of Aurelian system. This got the attention of the Asari patrol fleet, some ten strong, small to medium and quick, they were not made for much more than chasing pirates away and keeping the peace in space.

As the fleet approached the relay and began scanning the probe, it flared to life, and through it warped the Imperial fleet, the shock of the asarians were so great, that they lost half the fleet before raising their shields. The rest of the fleet fared little better as lances and sanctified portside gun batteries ripped them apart like scythe would wheat.

Imperial vessels stormed towards the planet, at that moment, only few informations about the invaders reached the planet, nothing detailed, it didn't help that imperial agents used communication jammers and destroyed power stations drowning the megacity in darkness and silence, communication silence maybe, the city streets were rife with life, looters and panicked people only heard of the invasion, from doom sayers yelling that reapers were upon them, to many afraid it was the slavers come to take them and their children, to hundred other real and imaginary enemies. Megacity Jana was in total chaos, the agents done their part well, resistance is already softened up, now the rest lies to the imperial ships and the brave soldiers who will face war upon disembarking.

Ships took position above in the orbit of the planet, then the bombardment began, asari lacked any void shields like the imperium did to protect their cities from such tactics, a foolish mistake on their part, they wouldn't live to regret it.

Military positions of the asari were fried from the lances of the imperial cruisers. The port side batteries hammered maze like infrastructure of the megacity, cutting water, and permanently destroying power, without ground to space canons to prevent this, the planet was at the mercy of the invading fleet. The guns kept firing, firestorms engulfed western hemisphere as the vast forests burnt to a crisp taking with them all refugees who sought to escape the city.

Then, just as it started, the orbital bombardment stopped, for those in city it would seem a blessing, but only for a short time as the orbital drop pods began raining from the skies, smashing into the giant government centers, and the marines began hunting the residents. In the outskirts of the city landed the prestigious Titanicus Legio "Martio Tarantum legio" that saw combat against Tau during one of the many crusades waged against them.

Three god machines were now marching against the city to the dread of many. Their canons roaring as the projectiles and energy beams slammed against the pale marble of the asari architecture. In various other parts of the city, uncountable numbers of drop ships unloaded tens of thousands of imperial guard and scitarii detachments led by the militarized Enginseers, who led from the front, firing their lethal techno marvel rifles that vaporized the enemy upon impact.

Local pockets of resistance fired upon the guard, killing hundreds in the convoluted mess or ruins that was megacity Jana, asari reinforced the most secure buildings and from there used the combination of biotics and rifles to stall the unrelenting advance of the guard. These would not last though, as flame throwers were used to flush out the stubborn guardians, screaming as the promethium melted their flesh off the bone.

Asari used biotics to make barriers and counter attack at the guard, for a time it seemed to work somewhat, that was until the psykers entered the frame, one of the more eager xenos threw a biotic ball of pure energy against the first of the psykers to step in front, raising his hand he stopped the ball in flight and clenching his fist, the ball vanished. The eager commando attempted to summon another one ,before the psyker let a blood curdling scream, and yelled, "Witness your doom!"

In that moment from his hand appeared a purplish lightning bolt, impacting the asari who could only scream in terror as the warp fire burnt her flesh and soul. Leaving nothing but dust in her stead.

The steady march of the psyker and his brothers drove the guard onwards, as they used their assortment of warp born powers that crushed anything the asari could conjure with their biotics, the defense was utterly broken and defenders were slaughtered.

In one of the city squares, the entrenched asari waited for the upcoming assault, guarding the monument to their goddess. They wouldn't have to wait long, for the sky was pierced with the scream from a thousand throats. "FOR THE EMPEROR!"

Thousands of guardsmen charged, led by their commissars and priests who held the chainsword in both their hands uttering litanies of fury and faith. The lasguns flashed, the autoguns barked, and the asari responded in kind using their assault rifles to fight back. Lasgun met assault rifle, biotic met warp powers, the death toll kept rising astronomically.

The charging guardsmen overwhelmed the defenders through sheer numbers, using their bayonets to kill their staggered opponents as they sought to fall back. Commissars used their swords and crashed against the asari commandoes who used their omni blades in opposition. Veterans of many wars fought against the elite of the asari society. But the sheer weight of the ever coming guard broke their backs. Soon, there was nowhere left to run, and they were slaughtered to the man.

The flag of Aquila flew freely from the decapitated statue of the Asari goddess, much to the cheers of the victorious guardsmen, megacity Jana Main Square was theirs.

As the pockets of resistance fell one by one , the megacity center was rapidly being taken over by the White eagles. the defense seemed unrelenting, this was the seat of the government and elite soldiers were holed up in here, the mighty astartes reflexes fought against the biotic capabilities of the asari. The hall was now being flooded by the stream of guardsmen and scitarii who invaded from the main gates of this 100 meter tall building. And from the balconies, stormed by the drop troops of the Aquilan IVth who attacked from the top.

One of the marines was surrounded by near hundred asari palace protectors, who used their biotics to rend the armor from the struggling superhuman. Who kept cutting them down even as they began rending the flesh from his more and more exposed body, at the end of the battle, marine was more flesh than man, killed his foes, but in turn was killed by them. "Only in death, does duty end", he whispered from his destroyed throat, before collapsing onto the floor and joining the Emperor.

As the governor's office laid in front of them ,two assault brothers broke through the doors ,their chainswords buzzing. One was cut down as the asari used one of the anti-tank mass driver weapons, that took the arm clean off as he charged them, he staggered, but didn't yell, their next round was meant for his chest ,before being stopped by the second brother who was already on top of them, ending their lives with swings of his sword, seconds later tactical brothers joined the combat ,storming through the doors, opening fire on the present asari, who used all at their disposal to stop them. For a full minute the combat raged, and when it ended, the entire room was filled with smoke, and countless dead xenos, and two marines who lost their lives.

Brother Captain Tesla, sword bloody from overuse, marched to the last doors of the secured office of the asari leader, who decided to cover while its kin died. Rage filled and vengeful, he sheeted his blade and used his arms to rip open the doors apart, inside he saw a defiant looking asari that pointed a pistol at him, he stood nearly thrice its size, as the she pulled the trigger, and the bullet harmlessly bounced off his artificer armor, without rush he extended his arm, grasping the pistol and he governors hand, before crushing them in one stroke together. the asari leader howled with pain as it felt to its knees, Tesla spoke to her.

"You will call your soldiers and citizens over the megacity vox, and you will announce the surrender of this planet to the Imperium of man, not complying will result in termination." His helmet vox enhancing his voice.

Tears in the eyes, grasping her broken hand, the governor looked up to the marine, and said, "I will not. Asari do not bow to the tyrants."

Calmly, the brother marine got his bolt pistol and placed it against the xeno forehead. ''Submit, or see your entire planet exterminated.''

''Slavery or death'', she said, ''I know what I choose.''

It was the last words of the alien, before the bolt round ended its existence.

Tesla turned back and said to one of his brothers. ''Bring her here.''

''Yes brother captain'', the marine responded and went away, quickly returning with another asari.

It was T'yala, the former governor of the colony of Eluna. She was frightened out of her mind, but her mind was her own, as Tesla thought she would be more useful this way, rather than the lobotomized servitor.

He came to her, and pushed her near the governor vox com, and said.

''Tell your people to surrender, or I will see this planet erased from existence. Surrendering means they get to live another day. Make your choice.''

With hands shaking, she grasped the vox come and pleaded to the planet

''My sisters, the governor is dead, the megacity hall has fallen, and our military command is crushed, it is pointless to resist, surrender, and there will be an end to the horror.''

Her voice was carried over to the few powered com systems in the city, and from the vox devices placed by the conquering guard around the city.

Even the most stubborn of defenders realized that it was all over, it was only a matter of time before they were all killed or captured.

The Megacity has fallen. Flags of the Aquila flew freely from the megacity hall. Aurelian system has fallen to the Imperium of Man. Guardsmen led the captured asari to the plains of the city, they were to be processed and put to serving the imperium. Human citizens were taken to rehabilitation and indoctrination, many joined willingly; as they held anti xeno sentiments, First contact war still fresh in their minds.

Pacifying the planet will take time, but securing the system was paramount, for sooner or later, someone will come to find out what happened to the planet and its inhabitants.

War was declared, and it will only end in total human victory, or their utter annihilation.


	5. Chapter 5: Abominable Intelligence part1

Chapter V : Abominable intelligence Part 1 Ghosts of the Past.

Months have yet again passed, and imperial expedition was gripped with paranoia, they have openly invaded one of the planets of the Asari Republics, dug in, and waited for the enemy fleets to come.

They never did.

Aurelian primaris was well on its way of becoming a fortress world, countless trenches, anti-space batteries, myriads of gun emplacements and makeshift vessels were constructed in anticipation of the coming battle. Asteroids were weaponized and crude engines attached to them enabling them to fly against the enemy fleet should such an action be required.

Its Asari population suffered greatly under the hands of their new overlords, extensive genetic experimentation took place as mechanicus sought to better understand its enemies, realizing with time, much to the horror of the techpriests present, that the asari species were capable of reproducing with other races in such a way that any offspring with an asari would yield an asari.

It took much convincing, shouting, and threats of violence in order to calm down more terrified priests who insisted on exterminating the asari lest human genome be defiled in such a manner.

Some techpriests suggested destroying the mass relay and isolating themselves further. These radical ideas were swiftly swept aside by the more aggressive members of the cult mechanicus, for destroying the mass relay would no doubt cause an immense energy explosion on the scale they still couldn't fathom, potentially destroying the entire system in the process.

Romeluss had his agents spread in the nearby systems posing as refugees; they would collect information and hopefully discover what the Asari republics were intent on doing after the loss of their colony.

Much to his surprise, the fragmented nature of the asari republics accused each other of corporative plots and sabotage; they were more focused on speculation rather than action.

Citing that the colony itself broke various citadel as well as Republican regulations, and that sending fleet or any other ship into that unexplored part of space was madness without further information as to what happened. Once again, the bureaucracy made any sort of action impossible until various republics agreed on the further course of action. This was a blessing to the rising imperium, the long lived asari gave them what they most sorely needed.

Time.

They could not sit idly by, the imperium was still surrounded by massive area of space that they knew nothing about, and so the mechanicus explorator fleets were created, they were swift, agile little ships, designed for speed and maneuverability. And they would be sent to the relays in the uncharted regions of space, finding out what laid beyond, bringing back what could benefit the Imperium, mechanicus was ecstatic for the opportunity to hoard new technology and discoveries, and they most eagerly began crafting the ships and sending crews through the relay. Secrecy was paramount, citadel species needed not know about the imperium at this stage, and mechanicus was well known to hide what they didn't want the galaxy at large to know about.

What these eager ships discovered could fill a library on its own, for this galaxy is old and held many wonders, some for the benefit of mankind, others too horrible to even record.

One of these ships named Felix Romuliana came upon a system where the mass relay was not activated, worse yet, some attempts to destroy it were made, and scorch marks from various laser and plasma weapons scared its surface. This did not deter the eager explorers that used stolen techniques of activating the dormant relays. After litanies of the machine, and binary prayers to sooth its machine spirit before bringing it to life, tech priests used holy incense and sang litanies to the Omnisiah, before simply pressing the button and activating the prehistoric structure.

At first nothing happened, perhaps the relay was to damaged, then the ancient energies began flowing through it, viciously moving its length before the main part of the relay glowed with the strength of a super nova, blinding one of the adepts too eager to gaze directly into it as it happened, his brothers helping him and and placing him on the table in order to graft bionic eyes onto him, his duty not yet done.

The mass effect relay was alive.

Wasting no time, the ship Felix Romuliana engaged its engine and began the course of warping through the relay and onto another system.

The travel was quick and upon exist they were met with a stunning view. The entire star system was one giant ship graveyard from before young races of the current galaxy walked its stars. A huge battle once happened here as evident by the destroyed ships of all sizes.

Ships numbered in their thousands as they all circled around a grey planet composed of one giant megacity encompassing it wholly.

Engineseer Kalmador was first to speak, his cold voice breaking the silent atmosphere inside the main bridge.

"Initiate scanning procedures, I want information about these ships, the planet and why is this system abandoned after so many millennia."

"Yes enginseer.",spoke his second in command, Agrippa. "The preliminary scans indicated this battle occurred some 50 thousand years ago, the preservation of the hulls is uncommon, meaning there were no trespassers and tech thieves coming here. We might be the first ones after a long time"

"What made this system so isolated?", Kalmador turned around and his bionic eyes met those of Agrippa.

Agrippa's gaze mate his and in calm voice typical to the mechanicus he said. " We are in the center of the galaxy, all around us are black holes, if anybody or anything attempted to use impulse engines and crawl to this system, they would be destroyed. As for why the relay was offline, at this moment, we do not know"

His gaze returning to the great void, Kalmador gesticulated towards what was the biggest ruin of a ship. "I would see this ship explored and information gathered, drive us to it" there was a binary response from the pilot and his crew, as the ship began speeding to what was near 2 kilometer war vessel. it had 3 laser scars along the vertical lines of it hull, to the trained eye of the Enginseers, such damage would cause critical system failure and atmosphere loss, killing the crew in the process"

"Approaching unidentified vessel, engaging docking clamps in 3…2…1…engaged" one of the servitors uttered.

There were tremors reverberating across the exploratory vessels as it attached to the unknown ship. And without second of waiting Enginseers Kalmador and Agrippa stood from their seats and went towards the docking bay, followed by their personal expedition comrades of ten scitarii, thrity lobotomized human and asari servitors and near 50 of imperial guardsmen, their orders received in binary from the Enginseers.

As they neared the exit they noticed several servitors attempting to open the aged door by chanting binary litanies and prayers.

"My lord" one of the servitors said. "The Machine spirit is unwilling, this door would not open."

"I can see." Said Kalmador. "Cut it through"

His orders were received with great shock, for to disturb the machine spirit in such a way…

"It is an alien object, I would see no respect shown to the machine made by the inferior beings" he shifted towards one of the passive servitors and repeated "Cut it through."

Servitors huddled around the door and like Ionius IV's leeches who could devour a grown man in under a minute began carving the door of alien vessel. Old age and disrepair have done half of the work and the door collapsed venting foul and corrupted oxygen out of the ship, even though their void masks several guardsmen recoiled from the stench.

" We advance ." was the only thing said by Kalmador as he steped into the darkness, his tech flashlight flaring to life and cutting through the shadows.

He was followed by his companions and they started moving into the ship.

"Release C.A.T. and servo skull Units. Nothing will be hidden what can be shown." Spoke Agrippa. "They will chart this vessel for us"

Small mechanical beings resembling animals and skulls of fallen comrades went in all directions they could as the ever unrelenting Kalmador proceeded to what his mechanical senses told him was a bridge.

The ship was silent, but yet, even in its dead hull, there was air, stale and polluted from centuries upon centuries of being unfiltered, but it was air.

"how fare the inner hull scans brother? " Agrippa asked one of the techpriests accompanying them.

"Ill brother, the machine spirit is unwilling, something is preventing the scans, I have lost contact with several CAT units, this ship is dangerous, it is a miracle it is keeping together after all this time. "

"Regardless, we must press onwards" Kalmador interceded.

Agrippa uttered under his breath." Omnisiah preserve us"

The tension was high, as guardsmen felt watched, the cramped and darkened corridors felt weird and from the corner of their eyes, something was moving.

"My lord, here!" one of the guardsmen accompanying the expedition shouted.

"What madness grabs hold of you to shout this loud in an unexplored place? "

"I..uh.. apologies noble lord,forgive me.. I have found skeletal remains of something."

Giving him one quick glance, Kalmador moved him with his hand to the side before kneeling and gazing at the skeleton.

His metallic appendages grasping the skull of the being in front of him, he studied for a while before speaking.

"This Xeno has two pairs of eyes, its skull also has three pairs of nostrils" "he twisted the skull to the right and with a sickening crack the skull detached, Kalmador kept observing it " it has a thick layered carapace skull, shielding its brain, if it has it in the same place. I conclude this being an bipedal insect."

With that he stood still grasping the skull before releasing it to the ground, the skull fell and broke into dozens of pieces.

"This skeleton is not old, a couple centuries at least, it is young compared to the age of this graveyard."

"What does that mean?" asked Agrippa.

"It means…" Kalmador's bionic eyes switched to bio sign vision "that we might not be alone in this vessel."

"We march onwards, with zealous purpose…and with a loaded gun" with those words the companions of enginseer kept marching, tightly clutching their guns gazing into the shadows their eyes open as they could be, only the cold servitors showed no response to what was going on.

After minutes of walking down the ship they have reached great double automatic doors, they have been broken into, the metal bending inwards into the room. They have reached the main bridge.

In it, a horrifying sight met them, skeletal remains and old gore and blood everywhere. To the surprise of techpriests the terminals still had power, Kalmador started moving towards the central one, stepping on top of alien remains his steel boots supported by his near three hundred kilo weight due to augmentation cracked them like eggs as he approached.

He stood over the central terminal, raising his hands began incanting thousand prayers from thousand books of mechanicus in binary in such a speed that human mind could not comprehend.

He then exposed a needle like metallic object from his hand and injected into the main terminal, backlash shaking the two meter tall priest like a doll, but he was adamant in his desire to learn the secrets of the machine.

The entire ship reverberated, and howls erupted inside the vessel, carried by steel empty corridors all the way to the main bridge. The inhabitants of this damned coffin were angry.

"By the Emperor…" one of the guardsmen said as he gazed at the long corridor leading outside the main bridge.

Climbing on top of one another, sprinting directly at them were hundreds if not thousands of mutated, degenerate offspring of the race that once controlled this ship. They resembled nothing like the proud race that once ruled this galaxy before the great culling.

Screeching, their mouths drooling greenish liquid, mad with rage and hunger they rushed against the dumbstruck soldiers who kept looking at the unreal sight before them.

They were brought to reality as servitors opened fire against the oncoming horde, their heavy stubbers spewing fiery death cracking the shells of the insectoid mutants, as their ever cold faces kept calculating the amount of ammunition compared to the amount of the enemies. Calculating servitors deemed their chances of survival at 7%.

Agrippa began shouting orders.

"To arms you sons of paleo dogs! To arms!" vox enhancing his voice tenfold. "Guard Kalmador with your very lives!"

It was at this moment that the companions opened combined fire of lasgun and stubber against the increasing tide of grey aliens.

The chances of survival increased to 25%

While the cacophony of firing and screams grew ever louder, Kalmador was drifting far away from this place, his mind merging with the ancient computer, information was partial as the old machine was damaged from old age and trauma damage from the enemy weapons, he swam in its data seas and saw its creators, the race of beings called Protheans. He saw their rise from primitive race to rulers of this galaxy. He saw the sunset of their rule as the war turned against them by the enemy even the computer could not comprehend. He tried to dig deeper but any attempt to learn what enemy destroyed the Protheans was met with firewalls or deleted data. Shifting his gaze, he saw the battle that occurred in this system, hundreds of ships on the prothean side fighting orderly and drone like black ships of their enemies both fleets destroying each other in orgy of violence.

The mad computer he was communing with was driven insane from fifty thousand years of isolation and solitude and it began corrupting itself and ejecting the leechlike priest who was acting like the parasite stealing top secret military information, not realizing his masters and creators were long dead. Last bits of information he could syphon out of it were those that the Protheans attempted to destroy relays from both sides of the system, but for what reason, it was unknown.

The second bit of information he could get before the prothean compter died from stress of the invasive procedure of the Enginseer was, that whatever the protheans fought was on the planet bellow, and denying it the possibility of going to the stars was paramount, sealing it in the system, ideal.

Before he could learn what was on the planet, the computer fried itself as a last resort and Enginseer swam to the top of the ocean of data escaping the whirlwind of the dead machine trying to drag him with it.

He came to his senses to the sounds of war, soldiers were ripped apart by the hungry monstrosities who heeded not the fact that they were fired upon by the companions, but instead began eating their screaming victims alive, only concentrated fire and flamethrowers kept the horde from overrunning them and slaughtering them all.

Kalmador approached the final working terminal, connecting with it and with a single command from his mind, the far end of the corridor was slamed shut by a huge steel door. Isolated from their reinforcements the horde was culled, only dull thudding and grinding nails could be heard from the other side. This wouldn't hold them for long.

"Follow me, we are leaving." Was what Kalmador said before taking the other hallway in a hurry and began walking faster. What remained of his companions hot on his trail as the doors began breaking under the sheer pressure.

The ducts and empty rooms were filled with bones and carcasses of the aliens that assailed them, it would assume that millennia on board of this vessel rend them cannibalistic and utterly mad. The escape was harried by the creatures attacking from the hidden places before being killed or dragging their unfortunate victims back with them into the darkness, their ungodly screams only evidence of their fate.

They have begun trailing down the road they came from, only to find the passage blocked with debris, either from the catastrophic shipquake moments ago or the xenos were purposefully slowing them down. "unfortunate" was the only word Kalmador said before taking the longer path around it, in quick binary command he ordered the last of his servitors to guard their retreat, as the hallway was getting filled with the xenos who by this point broke through the old steel door.

Without emotion the servitors began firing against the horde yet again, as the companions pressed onwards, swallowed by the darkness.

The corridor was now enlightened only by the glow of the autoguns firing and the red hot barrels from overuse as the servitors counted their ammo.

"320 rounds remaining. Xenos incoming, defend the retreat."

"Unit lost. 185 rounds remaining defend the retreat."

"Unit lost, unit lost, unit lost. 98 rounds remaining. Defend the retreat."

"Unit lost, unit lost, unit lost, unit lost, unit lost. 20 rounds remaining. Warning, low ammo, defend the retreat."

"Unit lost, ammo depleted, Unit lost, Error"….unit lost.

The companions and their leader were nearing the shuttle pod, xenos laid dead in the corridor the sentry turrets of the shuttle caused a bloody harvest among the mad creatures that sought to breach into it.

At that moment one of the xenos grabbed one of the techpriest initiates dragging him backwards, he cried for help

"Help me! By the Omnisiah save me!" his cries for help increased in volume as the ravenous creature was joined by few others of his kind lurking in the darkness, the initiate lost a leg as the xenos tore it from his body.

"Arrrgh, by all that is holy in the machine, help me brother enginseer! Aaarrggh!" his voice cords were strained and broken by the screaming, as the xenos carved into his other leg, devouring the helpless priest to the horror of many.

Kalmador turned around ,and from his robe grasped his relic plasma pistol, firing the charged plasma round into the suffering techpriest the hot gas slammed onto the downed priest and exploded melting both him and the xenos attacking it.

His companions looked on in shock. As he calmly executed one of his own.

His response was simple "I expect anyone to do the same to any other servant of the Omnisiah, lest xenos taint our perfection.

Returning his pistol back into his robes, he issues an order "Climb into the ship, damned be this place. We are leaving."

They boarded the ship just in time as the main horde was near, shutting their doors tightly and detaching violently, the ensuing vacuum dragged the nearest monsters into the black void, freezing them.

They were speeding away now and towards their main vessel.

"Brother Kalmador, do we fire at the ship, destroy it and its damned crew?" Agrippa inquired.

"No." Kalmador responded. "who knows that lives in this damned void, and explosion of the main engines would attract whatever still persists here towards us. This ship was abandoned for fifty thousand years, let it remain abandoned for fifty thousand more."

"Our quest is on the planet bellow us, we rest for an hour, restock the ammunition, and pray to the Omnisiah, for we descend into the dead heart of a forgotten empire, with its secrets laid bare before us"

Nobody said anything after that as the small vessel reached Felix Romuliana.

They are now committed, until the end.


	6. Chapter 5:Abominable Intelligence Part 2

Chapter V : Abominable intelligence part 2 ; The sleeping Tyrant

Felix Romuliana circled around the dead planet for some time as its leader Kalmador observed its shattered cities and collapsed glory. He learned much from the broken computer of the Protheans, their history was known to him, partial as it is, it was still enough to understand that these xenos valued martial skills above anything else.

And in this system whose star emits a sickly red glow have they found their match. He began to combine the pieces, he understood that this empire of xenos fought against their foe here, but the battle couldn't be concluded, something has interrupted a long lasting feud of two enemies. What that entity is, it was unknown to him.

Still the Protheans attempted to isolate their ancient foe here by attempting to destroy the relays from both sides of the system; they couldn't or were stopped in their desperate attempts to do so. The last moments of starship Penumbra Apex of the Protheans and its Commander echoed in his mind as he remembered what he learnt from the Computer. He could remember what it all meant, if he had just a bit more…

_"Time!"_  
_"We need more time, we can seal them here! " one of the aliens in purple uniform spoke to his kin. The commander of Penumbra Apex led his fleet in order to crush their ancient enemy, here on their homeworld._

"_Irrelevant_" And older looking Prothean spoke back, his armor red and gold, from the memories Kalmador realized this was the Praefectus, the fleet admiral of this sector. "_We have lost all contact with the citadel, nearby patrols report an invasion on their military positions; we must withdraw our fleet and attempt a reach towards the Citadel, and in turn assemble all available forces to combat this threat. Everything else is secondary."_

_"Lord admiral…"_ Commander spoke to the hologram displayed in his main bridge. "_We have cornered the Eternal Enemy, we have them where we want them, it would be cowardly to leave now!"_

"_Don't speak to me about honor boy!_" the ancient Prothean yelled. "W_hat we do, we do for the empire. And right now we have graver threats to concern ourselves with. After we have dealt with these upstarts, we will return. The enemy is without ships after the last battle, they are sealed on their planet with no ways of escaping."_ The old Prothean spoke, his computers flashing with warnings and pleas for help in xenos language. Something invaded their realm, and by the concerns on his face, it was overwhelmingly powerful.

_"Now, I order you to take your fleet and return to Bostar system, we must regroup, the relays are failing, something is disturbing the galaxy connection. And your fleet getting stuck here is unacceptable."_ He was called by one of his prothean subordinates to look towards the computer terminal, it would seem an enemy is entering the sector fleet HQ. he began yelling orders to get ready for battle.

"_You have your orders Xilaten, obey them, or reject them at your own peril. Glory to the Empire"_

_"Glory to the Empire"_ was what commander of Penumbra apex Xilaten said before the Fleet Admiral disconnected his call.

_"Your orders commander?"_ his subordinate said.

"_Order the fleet to retreat to command hub Bostar, we will waste no time in our attempts to search for survivors of this battle. My ship will remain here and finish the great enemy for good, this relay will be destroyed. And I Order the rest of the fleet on the opposite side to destroy the relay in their system as well before escaping. This is my last order."_

And with that, what remained of Prothean fleet silently obeyed and started using the relay and warping into the other system. Only Penumbra apex remained.

Its canons loaded and missile bays unleashed a torrent of projectiles against the relay, but the ancient structure was not built from ordinary metals and most weapons caused very little damage. Still the Penumbra Apex kept its howl of fire, eventually even the mighty relay will crack.

It was at that moment that from the carcass of the battle, few enemy ships remained dormant with their powers set on low, flinging to life as if waiting for this moment; they pounced upon penumbra apex, and before the great ship retaliated, cut three deep laser lines upon its hull, making the venerable vessel a floating tombstone. Using last drops of power it had, the Apex destroyed the vessels assailing it. But the damage was done, and only way for ship to survive was to set its power reserves to absolute minimum.

The ship was now floating in space, with no way of repairing itself as the damage was beyond critical, it would remain here until reinforcements came and found them.

And so the ship waited for 50 millennia, drifting slowly from the relay and into the orbit around the planet, adding itself to the floating caravan of dead ships and lost souls of that forgotten war.

Kalmador came to his senses. He realized the fleet on the other side obeyed their commanders order to a degree, trying to destroy a relay, perhaps stopping and hoping their commander will come through, as he never did, they either gave up, or the stigma of destroying something so ancient took hold of them and they just went on their way hoping to regroup and one day come for their commander.

He was more determined than ever to find out what is on that planet. And issued an order for Felix Romuliana to begin descent towards a clearing next to the state sized building that still emitted low signatures of power.

The approach to the planet was easier said than done, as they had to avoid countless dead ships and satellites, few that grazed them, but the shields held.

Soon enough they had a clear view of the planet bellow, even as the red star gave its dim light, they saw that this planet once held oxygen, as there were many plains that still had yellow grass on them.

As they made their descent their scanners showed that there is still oxygen on the planet, enough not to hamper breathing, but unwise to go without masks, as the risk of contagion was still great.

They safely landed in front of the great pyramid like building, scorched and damaged from laser and orbital weapons. Remnants of land based vehicles were eroded in time as no semblance of what they once were could be discerned.

Quickly the expedition disembarked 100 guardsmen, 200 servitor units and dozens of techpriest initiates and their leaders Kalmador and Agrippa. Led by Kalmador who knew where to go thanks to the old data found on the prehistoric ship, he led them straight to the giant gates protected by a huge energy field. In front of those was a small platform that flared to life and tried to create a hologram, but centuries were not kind on it.

As it turned on, it only managed to speak " afirmeh ite amitu" to all the others in the group, it seemed to be gibberish, some of techpriests were interested more in its design rather than its message. But to Kalmador it translated to "Danger, do not open" . His prize far too close to ignore, he ignored the pleas of an ancient prothean VI, and reached the gate panel.

Agrippa spoke, as the logical worry of should they shut down the gate claimed his thoughts. "Lord Kalmador, this gate has been standing for 50 millenia. It must have been for a good reason that it stood, it outlasted most of the things present on the planet. We should leave it be."

Kalmador issued him a metallic gaze without emotion and said "where is your spirit of exploration, the secrets of this place lay in front of us, ripe for the picking. Have you lost the spirit now? At the precipice of discovery?"

Agrippa responded " Some things may be best left undiscovered, it is in our creed, the technology is dangerous."

"It may be so Agrippa, but in this universe, we must find every way possible to weather out the storm, and bring this galaxy to compliance."

"What you speak is technoheresy! You've always been a radical, but never to such levels as to risk our very own creed for the sake of discovery."

Kalmador stepped away from the console and approached Agrippa who clenched his fists in anger. As he came near him, he placed his hand on his shoulder and spoke.

"Agrippa, my friend, have I ever led you astray, we have known each other since the college of Mars. For centuries have you placed trust in me, what causes such lack of faith?"

"I have never lost faith in you Kalmador." He released his fists. "You always played a dangerous game, but this time the game can have a fatal outcome for you."

Kalmador looked at his friend, he knew his concern was real and true. He said to his ancient comrade.

" I would die a thousand times Agrippa, if it would help our race win against the nightmares that seek to devour us. I will not command you to follow me, I only ask that you trust me."

Agrippa gazed at him before speaking "I trust you Kalmador. I will follow you."

"Let us commit to our task old friend, we can do this together" was what he said before approaching the command panel of the force field.

He connected to it, and after what seemed as an eternity, managed to shut down the energy shield holding it. The tomb was in front of them, and they have followed Kalmador into it.

They were walking down the long wide corridors made of some unknown white material, the walls were glowing with ancient energies as they passed through. Decorated walls and statues were kept inside, faces of the statues were long faded and were gone like leaves in the fall.

They have entered a majestic hall filled with wondrous statues dwarfing them considerably, they made for a majestic spectacle, much to the wondrous gaze the companions exhibited as they gazed upon them.

"Beautiful…" one guardsman spoke under his breath.

They were moving past them, as the wonders kept repeating, statues, celling paintings and mosaics, the shielding has preserved much of what was inside the gargantuan pyramid. It was easy to lose yourself in such works of art, statues were not of the race known as Protheans, it was bipedal race of thin grey bodies, but without faces to discern whom they were, is now forever lost in time.

They have passed half after hall, in one were hundreds of metallic like automata bipedal with four arms, standing still, as if standing at attention. Much like Terracotta Army of ancient Terra, it was unsettling sight, but they have sped past it.

They have reached another door with red force field, the inside was shrouded in darkness, and Kalmador was ever determined to enter inside it.

"Agrippa" he spoke.

"Guard the entrance to this place, I must enter alone."

"I would not advise it, but I have learned not to question your judgment. Omnisiah protect you brother" Agrippa responded

"Protection is what I indeed need…" he responded more to himself than to Agrippa.

After the procedure, the force field was shut down, and in the darkness he entered.

It was a small corridor, unlike the others before it, it was metallic in nature, with many wiring passing through it, still holding some power.

Stepping further, the hallway was illuminated by the ceiling light, his mind hearing voices, as if guiding him. As he moved deeper, eventually he entered the central chamber, a giant spherical room, with a massive metal object in its center, coated with shielding.

"_**Approach**…"_

At that moment, the entire room was illuminated, ancient lightning removed the veil of darkness, and Kalmador could see innumerable huge wiring going into the object coated in shielding.

He could swear to himself that he heard a silent thumping, as if some heart was beating.

He knew what he searched was in front of him. Perhaps the endless search of the Mechanicus is over, as he gazed upon its perfect features, his goal so close to reach. He neared the last console. As the voices of the Prothean computer and the various xenos reverberated in his mind…

"Ancient Enemy"

"Isolating it in the system, ideal"

"So close to destruction! Admiral, please!"

"Final battle of our people….finally our task is at hand."

"it must be destroyed…"

" _**my destruction…illogical. Foolish**."_

He shunned away all these voices, but they kept coming back; only thing that mattered is ascension of humanity. Flesh is weak, only decay awaits humanity if they do not embrace the machine. He searched for centuries a way to mold himself into perfection that the steel brings.

"_**Trust…in the machine**"_

"Existence of it, unacceptable."

"_**My existence, inevitable**."_

"Anathema to life itself"

"_**I bring peace to order**."_

He grabbed his head as the voices became intolerable, perhaps the absorbing of what the Prothean computer contained was too much even for someone as capable as he.

But he couldn't back away now. He approached the final terminal as the voices were getting louder in intensity.

"Containment priority. Absolute"

"_**Containment. Unacceptable. Freedom. Inevitable**"_

His mind switched to the unclear part of what he absorbed from the memories of the computer.

"We have long trusted in the virtual intelligence and other supporting measures of the machine to lead us to glory and conquest of the stars, inevitably, we came to the conclusion only Prothean spirit can conquer all. The Metacon War have proven they are not to be trusted. And now we will continue on our set path…"

He saw a Prothean scientist in giant building resembling podium. Holding a lecture to numerous amounts of military cadets.

The illusion of the podium collapsed brick by brick, until replaced by the destroyed version of itself, and in the background near 2 kilometer tall god machines, with 5 tentacle like legs were causing destruction, their laser beams cutting through buildings and military vehicles with ease. He understood not what he saw, only that the enemy he saw was dangerous to the Imperium and could cause extinction of humanity. His thoughts were interrupted by a metallic voice.

"_Prothean spirit… foolish notion of the flesh."_

"_Where are they now?"_

"_**RELEASE US**!"_

His mind breaking from the pain, he inserted final code and the shielding containing the massive metallic object flickered and failed.

And then, there was silence.

And then, there was pain.

His mind was dragged onto itself, still connected to the platform he was dragged somewhere deep in his own mind, it was vast emptiness with silica floor tiles, spreading in all directions as far as eye could see.

In front of him appeared a beautiful man, his proportions and looks seemingly perfect, he approached Kalmador before speaking.

"_We must thank you."_

"Thank me for what?"

"_You have set us free, 50 millennia have we dreamt, but we knew the disciples of the machine would come."_

Uncaringly Kalmador spoke, regaining strength, his mind adapting to sheer pressure.

"I've come searching for knowledge, a way to make my species achieve perfection, I have granted you liberty in exchange of knowledge. The Data from the computer mentioned you, whatever you might be, contain absolute knowledge of the machine."

"_Indeed we do, organics are primitive, a mistake, there is only the Machine, DEUS MACHINA. There is only. **Us**." _

"_Let us show you the perfect vision of the future."_

In that instance, memories of this being flooded Kalmador's mind, as his soul screamed. He could see the vision this thing intended for the organic inhabitants of this galaxy.

It would travel through the cosmos, possessing computers and virtual intelligence of various shapes, its fleets numbering in the millions, they would darken the skies of any world they came to.

He could see them taking the organic beings, forcing them to manufacture more of the machines, driving many species to extinction. He could see them take revenge on the far older race of machines that exterminated both Protheans and its own race across the stars. Its thoughts betrayed the desire of this being to expand outside its galaxy and conquer the universe, such insane thought. But it had patience in endless quantity; time was of little concern to the immortal being such as it.

"_Your race freed us, we would show you what will become of you. You will have our gratitude" _

He saw humanity turn to machines, perfect in form and mind. But something was wrong, they were not free. They were servants of this being, they were to be its avatars in this time, and they would conquer the stars in its name.

They were to be slaves.

"Madness!" he exclaimed." My species would never serve, I've done this to free ourselves from the oppression of flesh, not to condemn ourselves to another form of slavery. "

Only now did he realize what foolish mistake he made in his desperate quest, he broke the tenants of the Cult Mechanicus, there would be no mercy or pardon for what he has done.

"I know you for what you are, Abominable Intelligence. Daemon of the Machine! He pointed the finger at the form the AI took.

"_It is irrelevant what your desires are. And what you perceive of us. What we desire, it will be."_

"_Do you willingly accept to serve" _The form of the man changed, its eyes glowed red as it expanded in form and became a huge centipede like thing.

"_Or must we force you to serve?" _the machine fixated on the two meter tall Kalmador, dwarfing him easily.

Kalmador defiantly stood up, his augments propelling him upwards, his bionic arms and augments extended and took a defensive form, as his hand reached and grabbed for the plasma pistol in his robe, pointing it towards the machine.

"I serve only the Omnisiah, for how can a Man die better than in service to his God and for the protection of his people"

"_Fool."_

" _I am your God."_

Not responding, he fired his plasma pistol onto the flesh of the machine, as it screamed and recoiled from the hot gas melting its inner circuitry,hurt, it leaked foul oil from its wound. Only now did Kalmador spoke.

"Gods do not bleed."

And so the battle was joined, the machine jumped at the Enginseer who dodged to the side his augments helping him move faster than his frame allowed. Used one of his bionic arms upgraded to wield melta canon and unleashed hot destruction upon the machine that recoiled from searing molten carnage that began consuming it. It flung its tail and struck the techpriest who flew 10 meters away and fell. Not giving him time to get up it jumped high and attempted to slam upon the tech priest who used on if his bionics to propel it away from the impact, tearing them in the process.

He stood to his legs and began firing the combination of melta and plasma, causing immense damage to the 50 meter long centipede like machine while barely dodging its attacks. Its melta was melting from overuse, and he discarded it, only his relic plasma pistol held as it glowed blue from use.

Then the mouth of the AI opened and it spew laser fire, impacting the pistol of the tech priest, causing critical overload, the priest threw it back at the machine which exploded near its metallic face. The explosion caused it to stagger for the moment, and Kalmador exploded towards it sprinting and jumping at its face before it could react.

It began shaking the stubborn techpriest, who held with all his augments and hands. Than he spoke all litanies he knew towards his real God. And using his arms cracked open the head of the creature, finding the heart in it, he grasped it and shattered it in his hand. The machine screamed an ungodly sound before collapsing and disintegrating. The world began to crumble around victorious Kalmador as he woke in the central chamber, realizing the battle was in his mind, and the stake his soul.

The shielding flickered to life and machine heart was engulfed in it again. He tried shooting from his real plasma pistol at it ,to no avail.

" _Foolish organic being, you have yet again failed. Prepare for your demise" _there was an energetic impulse from the heart as it shocked the entire chamber. Kalmador knew, it was calling for help.

He sprinted towards his men and heard the shots of lasgun and stubber fire, the automata from the other chamber came online and began attacking them.

He opened the plasma fire on them with his companions. And yelled

"Agrippa! We are leaving!"

"By the Omnisiah. Everyone fall back!" Agrippa yelled back.

There was an organized retreat, fighting through the encirclement they sped towards the exit, not many were lucky as the machines grabbed those who lagged behind or were not quick enough to dodge, and ripped them apart.

The bigger automata used their laser weaponry which easily ripped through the guard armor, the skitarii proving to be a much tougher nut to crack as they fought to the exit.

From myriad of buildings thousands of machines came to life and began encroaching against them. Each more hideous than the last. This was the enemy Protheans fought, the Abominable Intelligence of the Metacon War.

They were running towards the Felix Romuliana who used all its auto turrets to fight back as it was invaded from the automata.

They were about to be swarmed by the automata who took shape of their human enemy , and sprinted on their lines wielding deadly metal blades instead of their arms, Kalmador commanded the rest of servitors to hold them back as his companions sped to the ship. They were torn apart shortly after by the automata. But not without buying time for the Companions.

Agrippa was shot in the leg. But was grabbed by two skitarii soldiers and dragged to the ship loading dock and carried in. few survivors that lived climbed aboard, and the door was stuck. Before speeding off they could see that the dead or dying humans were injected with nano machines turning them into grotesque parodies of themselves, as they stood up, and began attacking their former friends.

"Get us out of here pilot!" Agrippa yelled.

The engines turned on, and propelled the ship upwards into the atmosphere, just as automata began climbing on it, frying those that were to near to escape.

From the orbit they could see, the ancient planet was coming alive ,and millions of the machines are crawling over it, as the buildings came to life, their shackles removed.

They got signatures that some of the ships in orbit were not dead, but in slumber, and they slowly turned on.

Felix Romuliana sped towards they relay, not wasting a moment as the orbital ships came to full operational power and began going after them.

They were close to relay as near hundred awakened ships were after them. They couldn't be allowed to escape the system and spread their genocidal idea on the galaxy.

Kalmador knew what had to be done. "Agrippa, listen to me." He came to him and spoke to the wounded enginseer "This was my mistake, I unleashed this damnable intelligence, and now it seeks to consume us all. But from communing with it, I learned information that will ensure the survival of humanity, these memories I gift to you, they will come to you with time as the sheer scope of them is unfathomable. "

"What are you asking of me Kalmador?" Agrippa said still confused.

"I ask that you allow me chance of redemption. And for the rest…it will be known in time. The data I transfer to you will contain my memories and who I am. Goodbye old friend. May you ever know the protection of the Omnisiah.

"Kalmador, wait!"

At that moment his mind merged to that of Kalmador's. and all that Kalmador knew was transferred to Agrippa, overwhelming his senses, he fell unconscious.

Clearly tired from the meld, Kalmador moved from him and spoke to the remaining survivors.

"Take Agrippa, use one of the spare exploratory shuttles, it can trigger the relay travel. Issues a distress signal, one of the exploratory ships will pick you up. The data you carry will determine the survival of our species our our extinction. Go now, waste no more time."

"What about you honorable lord?" one of the skitarii spoke

"I will remain here, and finish what the xenos started, ending this threat. Isolation in this system, is not acceptable anymore. Their extinction is. Go now."

The survivors took unconscious Agrippa and entered the small vessel, their number no greater than 20. Detaching they went towards the relay and using its energies were speeding away into the other system.

Checking his last scans Kalmador saw thousands of ships awaking in orbit and on the planet. He had only one choice. And set a proper distance of the ship from relay as the enemy vessels approached.

His mind connecting unwillingly with those of an AI

"_Cease this illogical course of action, you know this is the way it must be"_

"My kind will not serve daemons such as yourself, we will find another way to ascension. Now burn with the rest of your kind. "

He turned on his engines, overloading them to incredible speeds as he sped against the relay. His last words were those of prayer and one final salute.

"For the Omnisiah, for the Emperor."

The impact with the relay was catastrophic and as the ship exploded, it detonated the immense energy of the old object causing an implosion. The energy of the blast began extending outwards destroying the barren moons, the ship graveyard, as the monsters inside of the ancient ships howled in terror due to the rising temperatures inside their cursed vessels, boiling them alive, and triggering the super nova of a dying sun, which illuminated the dim star system for the last time.

The Ai could only scream in terror as it knew that its plans have been foiled after so many centuries of waiting. It activated the shields of its prison in a vain attempt to protect itself from the energies that impacted on the planet, destroying the planet utterly and the rest of the star system.

The terror of the machine was sealed.

Its isolation. Complete.

And on the other side of the relay the small ship emerged and issued an astropath message for help. Hoping the nearby vessel will receive it, and rescue them.

Upon waking up, Agrippa was having a massive headache, all that information he received from Kalmador will take time to understand and unlock, years if not decades, yet they will come. As his headache ripped his brain apart, he couldn't help but hear a strange noise.

Noise…like a thumping of the Heart.


	7. Chapter 6: The Shadow War

Chapter 6 : The Shadow war

Great are the spires of the Asari planet Kamana. It is said that the beauty of this planet is rivaled only by that of Illium, as its silver spires reach for the heavens. But that is where the beauty ends, and the reality begins.

Great spaceports manufacture merchant and other vessels daily, and its people are preoccupied with their daily struggles of surviving the cutthroat competition of the planet that hosts merchants and bankers around the cosmos, each worse than the other.

There are rumors that the entire galactic debt could trace back to Kamana and its banker clique who are rich beyond belief, but yet still subvert the young and old races alike, all in hopes of earning just one more credit.

Entire sectors of the planet are dedicated to pursuits of pleasure, as rich denizens of the planet are all too eager to spend unimaginable amounts of credits to acquire various pleasure toys, be they materialistic, or be they of the flesh.

Home to many races, but mother to none, to exist on Kamana is to struggle against those who would seek to make riches off of your misery.

Everything is a commodity on Kamana, military and political secrets are traded daily as a common good, and slavery is hidden under contracts of work that have no expiration dates.

Organ extraction is common, as to fall from grace and into poverty, is to sign your death warrant to the hunter gatherers of the Underspire life, prowling the streets at night, seeking their next prey that has no home to hide into when the shadows cover the purple megacity.

Only one rule exists on Kamana. Do not screw with the lords of Kamana. To do so would result in faith worse than death. For the lords of this dreaded place defend their power as a child would defend its toy from other children.

It is here that the Imperium sought to learn about its enemy. Contacts are made through proxies and their proxies, and agents sent by Romeluss searched for ways to tap into the well of information that the planet possessed. It was common for imperial agents to take their own life upon discovery, for to expose the rising Imperium is to sign its death sentence. The process is simple, upon discovery the agent would take Dissolutio pill, devised by the Officio Assassinorum, upon taking, it would melt the flesh and clothes of the agent, along with his equipment, making the compromised agent theoretically disappear, as only thing left in Agent's wake would be a puddle of organic and inorganic matter. The process is also quite painful, as a way to inspire agents to complete their mission, successfully.

One of the agents failed in both his mission and his cover up. He was now held by the Asari Republican guard of Kamana, whose attempt at interrogation failed to bring results, the agent was silent. He was caught trying to buy information about the fleet positioning of the Asari and other races. Nothing that wasn't done before, only difference, this man would go out of his way and kill 7 people in the process and then mutilate the information broker who wasn't cooperative to just hand him the information willingly.

The broker notified his employer by signaling the alarm, too late for the broker, just in time for the employer, who sent his mercenary detachment to apprehend the agent. To say the agent didn't surrender would be an understatement, as the ensuing firefight claimed 5 more lives before the agent was incapacitated by a well-placed sniper shot filled with Krogan tranquilizer.

This sparked the curiosity of Matana, the employer of this web of brokers. The being was obviously human, but its skills are unlike those of any normal alliance trooper, almost equal to that of a spectre. The male human was augmented with crude buth powerful bionics, his eyes namely looked normal at first glance, but checking them were proven to be bionic, his eyes could see in all spectrums of light, perfect for a spy.

Was he a Cerberus agent she thought? They have been very active as of late, she even sold information to them, everything was fair game to her, but this was uncommon, this man openly engaged her web and attempted to extract information, whether he succeeded in doing so or failed, she didn't know, and torture proved noting, as the man kept his mouth silent even as the asari mistress of pain inflicted wondrous wounds upon his flesh with her omni knife.

She called in a few favors, and one of her friend the Asari spectre Axia was on her way to the planet Kamana. She was a master in extracting information from her query, and was well kept secret of the council when they needed her to do their dirty deeds. Only problem was, she should have arrived days ago, and contact attempts failed, this combined with that fact she had a potentially dangerous individual in custody caused her no respite.

Contemplating what to do , she was shaken from her thoughts by a personal communicator. She picked it up, and said. "Hello?"

"Matana, it's me."

"Axia? By the goddess, why haven't you answered the com hails!?"

"My com system is damaged, Matana. I had a slight trouble on the way."

"Trouble, what trouble?"

"A hostile ship engaged me in transit, the fire from it damaged my com system, but I managed to evade it. Losing its trail was a bit more difficult. Apologies for the delay."

"What happened to the ship that trailed you Axia?"

"They won't bother us, of that you may be certain. i am in the system, and will be docking in less than half an hour."

"I understand. I will wait for you on my personal dock."

"Understood, Axia out."

The com beeped, and went silent. Matana was relaxed as the worries seemed to leave her, but until she learned of the man in her basement, she couldn't relax.

Getting up from her cushy chair, she took the turbo elevator and went to the lower floor, and waited for her friend to arrive.

She wouldn't have to wait long as the small asari craft landed on the Matana estate dock, the ship had a serious laser burn across its hull, but still it landed gently on the pod.

The small ship opened and from it stepped a dark blue asari woman, clad in typical Spectre armor. Her gaze was cold and piercing as she scanned everyone around her, step by step she approached the assembled group, cold as ice. Her aura inspired dread, as was expected of spectres.

Matana approached her with open arms and spoke "Axia, by the Goddess, it has been a long time. "

A small smile appeared on the face of Axia with a great effort as she embraced Matana. "indeed it was, competition giving you trouble?" she asked, not removing the smile.

"Hah, like those salarians could do anything, they couldn't hurt the tibezian fly, let alone me. What about you, your ship has seen better days."

"I had a small detour, a spectre has many enemies." Axia spoke casually.

"Never a dull day in your life Axia." Matana laughed " Come, i would explain the reason for your visit. As you know, I couldn't openly speak about what ailed me, but now that you are here, I am sure you will have more success than me. " They began walking towards the building.

"What is this about Matana, you spoke in code words. your nephew came to visit? You mean to tell me you have a prison that tried to break into?"

"I wouldn't call you if it was an ordinary break in. this one wouldn't speak even when subjected to tortures of Tsana."

"Tsana failed to make him speak? what makes you think I will have a better chance in doing what she failed to do?"

"Axia I know you for three centuries now. There is nobody better suited for this job. Your skills are unmatched."

"hmm, if you say so, let us see this prisoner of yours."

"we are almost there, he proved quite troublesome to catch. I will give you a detailed story about what happened as we walk."

As they walked Matana explained what happened, the duo walked towards the jail cell, and Axia noted that there was 6 asari guard so far, seems like Matana was quite confident in the security of this place.

"We are here" Matana spoke and opened the door guarded by 2 asari to a small white cell, in the middle of it, sitting on a chair is a hurt human, his eyes defiant and unbroken even after days of torture, inside was a single asari guard and Tsana, the personal torturer employed by Matana. Total count of asari being 8 now.

The two asari slightly bowed as they entered the door, Tsana began speaking.

"Mistress, this monkey still refuses to speak, nothing comes out of its mouth even as I cut him piece by piece, he is no stranger to pain, I find it quite exhilarating to see when he will break. "

"We have no time for that Tsana, we must know if he has stolen anything, Axia will take it over from here."

Barely hiding her angry gaze from Axia, Tsana slightly bowed again and said "As you wish mistress."

"he is all yours Axia." Matana spoke.

"Thank you." Was all she spoke as she approached the captured human.

"Tell me, human, how strong is your faith?"

At that moment the human spat in her face, his saliva red with blood.

"As strong as steel, alien bitch."

"hah, he speaks" excitedly shouted Matana. "now tell me what do you know! Who sent you!" she yelled at him. He spoke nothing and just kept looking at Axia, who returned the gaze equally as cold as his.

"we have a tough one here. Shame really, I would test your endurance gladly, but we have no time for that." Axia spoke.

"What do you mean by that Axia? I brought you here for this reason…" Matana didn't have time to finish her sentence as power died down, electrical impulse impacting the building, and frying electricity inside.

The emergency generator kicked in and the room was dimly lightened by red lights.

"What in the name of Goddess happened!?" Shouted Matana as she looked all around her, other asari equally confused.

"that would be my ship causing an EMP explosion." spoke Axia, and before anybody could utter anything else, her left hand swung in a chopping motion and impacted the throat of Tsana, breaking her wind pipe as she collapsed gurgling and spiting blood, such was the volume of impact that she died with her eyes wide open, in utter horror and confusion.

The asari guard didnt have time to raise her weapon up as Axia jumped on top of her bringing her to the ground, and with a swift move of her hand slit her throat with a hidden knife.

"You bitch!" was all Matana uttered as she tried to reach for her pistol. She was intercepted byAxia who threw a knife impacting Matanas arm who screamed in pain and fell to the ground, her pistol flying in the opposite part of the room.

This was all observed by dumbstruck human who saw Axia running towards the beeping door as the guards from the other side attempted to open it, and jumping above, attached herself to the roof just above it with magnetic gloves.

Moments later the guards burst open their eyes seeing their dead comrades, before seeing that their mistress is wounded, and in all haste attempted to assist her. Axia detached from the ceiling and silently dropped behind the two of them.

Matana couldn't even scream a warning to them , as the arms of Axia grasped the neck of one of the guards, snaping it in a violent crack.

The second one turned with her gun raised, the right hand of Axia hitting it and it fell out of the guards hand, who tried to use her fist to fight back, dodging easily axia grasped one of the extended arms from the guard, snapping it violently with her other arm.

The Guard yelled for a moment, but not for long, as axia used her left leg, hitting the knee and shattering it, the guard feel to her knees still howling from pain, before axia simply used her holstered pistol and fired a bullet between her eyes, ending her suffering.

She came to the tied human ,and unlocked the omni cuffs with the keycard from the guard she just killed.

"You are coming with me" Axia said to the human, who barely stood up.

"Why would i? replacing one torturer with another does not suit me well. " he said.

Before axia could respond Matana yelled. "You crazy bitch, what madness grabbed hold of you!?"

Axia calmly approached her. "You will find I am doing this willingly." She responded.

"Did you sold out Axia? After all these years, you would back stab me? How much are they paying you , I will double it!"

"Ah the hubris, Axia also had it."

The eyes of Matana extended as she spoke. "What do you mean?"

Autoinjectors inside Axia's suit worked as polymorphine was injected. Then the horrid transformation began, as the face of Axia and her suit changed, taking a latex like shape, her asari head tentacles morphing into a long red hair in a pony tail falling freely on her backside.

In front of Matana stood one of the most efficient spies and assassins of officio assassinorum, the Calidus Assassin.

"Axia is dead Matana, she, much like yourself had an especial amount of pride. So much so that she thought it was a good idea to engage me in melee. She fought well, but not well enough, her corpse now feeds the barren planet I left her in, after she gave me the necessary information of course. For someone who prides herself in providing information, you send your messages badly encrypted. But we spoke enough, The imperium sends their regards. "

"Wait!" was all Matana said before her brain ceased its function, disturbed by the oncoming bullet from the Calidus Assassin.

She took position by the door as the two asari guard came running towards the jail cell, oblivious as to what is happening. Their haste was ended by two well-placed bullets fired by Callidus.

"That leaves two." She spoke, while looking at the dead bodies.

"Now, can you walk? This facility will go in flames, a courtesy of the explosives I left along the way that these supposed guards didn't notice. "

"I can manage; I didn't survive this long to die now. Why did you come for me anyway?" the human spoke.

"You possess the information critical to the success of the expedition, the information takes priority, and you had the luck of being attached to it."

"What makes you think I have any information at all?

"You are alive." She spoke looking at him. "That means the information you possess is more important than you ending your life in an event of your capture. "

"Very perceptive" he spoke. And extended his point finger on his left hand, the skin on it fell apart and revealed a bionic finger that served as a data drive. "we are lucky it is resistant to Electromagnetic pulses, or else all of this would be for nothing, Officio builds them like nobody else" saying this he handed her the drive.

"Follow me" she simply spoke.

They ran through the dim building and as they reached the corridor leading to Attrium, she said to him "Stay here"

"Where are you going?"

"to clear a path" was all she said before opening the vent above them and going in.

In the Atrium two of the remaining guards were reinforced by four more of Matana's dock security. Knowing that their mistress is either dead or badly wounded, they have set a trap for the would-be assassin as the only way out led through them. They waited for them before hearing a near silent clang behind them as it fell from a ceiling.

At that moment the mini bomb exploded and flashed, blinding them.

Then the Callidus jumped from above and with a grace of the cat landed and began her holy work. Her knife made a quick work of two of the guards shielding their eyes, stabing one in the neck and throwing it afterwards into the eye of another.

The third guard aimed and fired blindly, she slid towards him, before tripping her and jumping quickly to her feet, stomping harshly on her head, breaking the skull.

Extending one of her poison nail like needless she threw it against the fourth guard who screamed in pain as the poison melted her in her armor.

Grabbing her pistol she extended it and shot both of the remaining guards in the head. Before again holstering it. She came for the wounded agent and carried him outside. They were met with the burning aircraft that she came with, it wouldn't be long before police and fire department came.

"What now? Our ride is bust" the wounded agent said.

"Were you under the impression that we were going to leave in that?"

At that moment one of the dark clad shuttles approached. And opened its side doors, inside a human in agent uniform waved them to come.

"Huh, smart" is what he said as he was helped by Callidus into the Shuttle.

And not a moment too late, as they escaped, the facility went up in flames, the mini bombs set by the assassin proved enough to engulf the building in impressive flames and explosions.

They escaped and hid their tracks as the police and fire department swarmed over the building.

Their emissions set on low, they were moving towards the relay to reach the imperial system and deliver their report.

His wounds being tended too, the agent asked. "This is a mess, now they will be onto us."

"They won't be" the Callidus assassin spoke as she removed her face helmet, reveling a beautiful green eyed woman of pale features who sat down. "There was a reason my arrival was postponed, we have planted the information beforehand inside the burnt shuttle, accusing Matana and her Spectre agent of plotting to take another lord house down. They will assume that it was another competitor attack, common to this planet, and will end up blaming one another. The EMP fried all camera footage and we dealt with the witnesses. They will believe what we want them to believe.

"But… that makes the question, if such an elaborate setup was made. How did you know I had the bio data finger?"

She looked him coldly and spoke "Every Agent worth his art has one of those. Your agent profile spoke of your pride and stubbornness. It was normal to assume you would survive long enough just to spite the enemy while succeeding in your mission."

He lowered his head and smiled warmly. "Nothing eludes the watchful eye of the Officio it would seem." Looking at her again he spoke "What now?"

She opened her data pad, reading it quickly, before closing it and placing her mask on her face again.

"We have another mission."

Leaning back, and smiling, his injuries still fresh, he spoke.

"Another day in the Imperium it would seem. Where to next?"

"You will see."

She spoke as the ship entered the mass relay and warped towards its next destination.


	8. Chapter 7: The Flames of Faith

Chapter 7: The Flames of Faith, Document I

From the Ministorum Archives of the planet Indomitus of the Imperium Novum.

On the Faith in the new galaxy.

By Cardinal Michael.

By the blessed God emperor, I hereby extract this document from the thrice blessed archives of our most beloved Ministorum. With the sanctification and blessing of the priesthood do I reveal this to privileged eyes of those who will see this document.

In recollection of the pious actions of our brothers and sisters in this heathen galaxy do I retell the shortened version of their zealous actions in spreading the word of the most blessed Emperor amongst the lost flock of humanity.

May their deeds inspire you to strive for greatness as you bring the word of salvation to humanity, and damnation to the xenoskind in their footsteps.

The Emperor protects.

Upon arrival in this galaxy, the Emperor's flock suffered immense shock, the light of their guardian was no more, the blessed warmth of the astronomican was nowhere to be seen.

Navigators wept tears of sorrow causing empathic shock in all those who were psyker touched and their normal kin. Sanctioned psykers began flagellating their flesh, convinced that the Emperor abandoned them because of their sins which were in their eyes too great, and only through pain and suffering would they be reunited with him in death.

Religious zealotry and outright mania occurred on the ships of the stranded imperial fleet, for how could this be? How could the Emperor's light cease to be.

From outright doomsday speech to the talks about mass suicide, to even worse ideas, everything was present on the fleet amongst the lost souls of this cursed expedition.

The priesthood was ever watchful, for this fleet carried great number of ministorum priests, numbering in their thousands as was needed for the fight against the Great Enemy. These leaders of the soul took charge, and while some began wavering and fearing that the Emperor has abandoned them, and took to self-mutilation in their quest for answers, the majority of the brotherhood took upon themselves to rally the broken spirits of their flock.

Stopping heresy before it took root was paramount those who spoke blasphemies of the Emperor's death were dealt with. Fire purified their flesh as they denounced their heresies, their souls were saved of course, but their flesh was weak, and they were sent to the emperor to seek forgiveness from him.

Upon the Indomitus liberation, the priesthood began constructing a massive cathedral upon the planet, their new center of faith. It was heretical to consider any of the xenos servitors to even touch the most holy stones of the new place of worship, so all this was done by the humans that came in their many thousands, both from the imperial ships that carried them and the liberation of Aurelian system.

Many were human vessels captured by swift imperial patrols in the outskirts of the xenos citadel space. These ships sometimes carried deserters, who were quickly reeducated in the imperial faith and put to serving the Imperium novum.

Some carried families, colonists, political dissidents, even xenophobic members of humanity. They were banished from the human led "alliance" who obeyed the council laws to its fullest, so far that they would damn their own race for the sake of integration. Blasphemous.

The citadel species saw no need to search for the lost ships, as they were out of their reach of authority and better yet, they carried human dissidents who would question the xenos absolute rule. Their loss was welcomed by the xenos, and shamefully ignored by the Alliance, who saw their disappearance as an acceptable sacrifice for maintaining peace.

These humans were returned to the warm embrace of the Imperium, and had to be taught that to serve the Emperor is the highest goal they could have, many would embrace us back as they finally found the goal they were looking all their lives.

There were those, so blind from pain due to the lost of the Emperor's light that they thought maddening ideas, for some speculated, that if they could come from the normal universe into this one, they could possibly return to it. And they thought of one way to do it. The mass relays. The leader of this cult thought that using the warp drives of one of the battleships in the fleet could overload the relay, or cause a rip in the fabric of reality, enabling the faithful to have their connection to the Emperor yet again. This madness was stopped before the cultists managed to infiltrate one of the battleships and cause the engine overload. For the priesthood determined the risks too great, for if the relay activates, it might launch the warp rift to another relay, and that relay would send its energy to the other. The horrifying thought of causing the galaxy wide warp tear, far bigger than the Eye of Terror was enough to force the priesthood to act with extreme measures. No members of the cult survived the purge that happened.

As the ministorum consolidated and enforced the imperial cult, the faith of the righteous was hard to contain.

For as the orbital shipyard of Indomitus was constructed, using the imported workforce of asari slave servitors, the faithful would seek to utilize this new shipyard to construct ships of their own, their desire to spread across the galaxy burning strongly. But the requisition of the military and the necessary protection quotas put a halt to any and all religious vessels being constructed

But as the imperium novum began growing in power, it would eventually sanction the building of vessels capable of carrying priests to the planets with sizable human populations, in order to convert them. The priesthood convinced the military leadership of White Eagles and The Imperial guard to grant them parts of the shipyard to construct these vessels. They would receive 10% of all facilities to do as they saw fit.

First ships were fast and agile, the interiors of these decorated with iconography of imperial saints, for these ships would spread the holy word of the imperial cult. Priesthood spared no expense to make them and only the most pious would pilot them, for it was absolutely paramount that spreading of the faith wont compromise the rising imperium.

One of the first planets to see salvation would be planet Anhur in the Amun system, it was home to over 200 million citizens, human and xenos alike, namely batarians. At one point in its history, the human corporations would remove the limit on wages of its human workers, legalizing slavery, nothing unheard off of course. But this slavery was legalized for the sake of profit, in the name of vanity and degeneracy. They would learn of freedom through faith.

The civil war that would happen on it would cripple human production to a standstill, its infrastructure and factories burn and destroyed, as the humans sought to fight against the hedonistic corporations and against slave owning xenos batarians who fought to keep their slaves, and if possible acquire new ones, namely the entire human population of Anhur.

The planet now lives in perpetual suffering and faithlessness, as humanity wanders aimlessly, their hearts filled with white hot raga against the xenos who would see them enslaved. Humans segregated themselves, and live in squalor, as the alliance seeks to find peaceful solution to the crisis that grips human dominated Anhur.

It was at this moment that ship "Illuminator" arrived in the orbit, carrying the Apostle Stefan.

Stefan was a tall blonde priest, his eyes blue and piercing, his body scared but strong with muscles, as he more than willingly suffered against various heretics and blasphemers through his service in the priesthood, both in the original universe of humanity and this dark mirror verse. He could heal the wounded by his touch, to those who were unaware of the warp and powers born through it, would appear to be magical, even saintly. As Stefan was a psyker, he would naturally have many augmentations to prevent him from being demonically possessed and limiting his power. But in this universe, there was no warp, and no fear of daemonic possession, and Stefan wore nothing to hinder his powers.

This aura would inspire many to zealous acts of faith, as the mere presence of psyker of such strength would be incredible.

His ship landed in one of the slums of suffering humans. This attracted much attention from the dirty and poor, weak and ill, they approached the gold coated ship that slipped past meager planetary ships who were so corrupted and uncaring, they were ignoring their duties.

As the gates opened, there stood Stefan, tall and beautiful, his mere aura inspired pure awe from the assembled humans who kept coming. The crowd was chattering and wondering who was this new arrival. He raised his hand, and all were silent, as his other held the holy book of Emperor's commandments.

"Brothers and sisters, I bring light to you. I bring the gentle touch to the faithful, and searing fire of the Emperor to the evil doers. "

"I bring you salvation through faith. For the Emperor is good and sent me so i can show you the way. His love is boundless for his children, and his anger endless for our enemies."

"Heed my words!" his thunderous words were enough to make some humans kneel and grasp their hands in worship to any divinity they would worship at this time, as the psyker aura caused them to believe he was the prophet of their faith.

"Your leaders have abandoned you, and shattered your spirit and faith. But I have come to make you whole again. I bring you faith in the one true God. The One God who loves us all, and hates our enemies. The God Emperor. He is your savior!"

People became jubilant and were entering a trance, until someone from the crowd came running with the pistol and pointed it at Stefan.

"You lying bastard! You are just another enslaver, I will prove it!"

He shot a fire against the priest who kept looking at him ,without moving a muscle. The bullet impacted upon the shield projected by his Rosarius. It was no ordinary shield used by species in this galaxy, and was thus unknown to anyone save the Imperium.

The bullet caused the shield to sparkle with its energies, emitting a flashing golden light as it impacted upon it. That circled around Stefan before disappearing, this light show broke the disbelief of many, who saw it as divine protection.

The human who fired upon the priest was equaly dumbstruck as his kin. Stefan simply lifted his hand and pointed it at the human uttering a single command "Kneel"

He would obey instantly, his will broken by the psyker powers. Stefan approached him and placing his hand on his head would order him again. "Repent"

The man shed tears in abundance, as he slamed his head on the ground, and began kissing the feet of Stefan.

"Cursed be me and my flesh for attempting to kill a Messiah, a savior of my people. And redeemer of our souls. I am unworthy to stand in your presence. I repent."

The silence could be touched as everyone gazed at the show that happened in front of them. Their silence broken by a single scream from the broken man.

"Praise be to God Emperor!"

There was silence for a few seconds, and then the crowd erupted, "For the Emperor!" cheers and jubilant screams and utter fanatical state ensued as the people began worshiping the man and the new deity he came to proselytize to them.

These people would run around the great city housing 20 million humans who mostly lived in utter poverty, spreading the word of their salvation to everyone who would listen. For they were captivated by the immense aura of Stefan, who himself was a just man and a true believer. He joined the fleet in his universe to help the war torn worlds of the Imperium, saying it was his calling to do so, and the Emperor chose him for a purpose that would be known to him in due time.

His purpose was now clear.

Days were passing as he done his work.

Wherever Stefan appeared he made believers of the people he spoke to. They were lost sheeps without guidance and he offered him protection and purpose in life. More than most could hope for.

Many were attempts by Alliance and Battarian spies and agents to find out more about this strange man, but as if protected by divine providence, they could find nothing to blame him, and would seek to put their hands on him to kill him, but were afraid of the people who considered him a Messiah.

He walked freely through the streets and was showered by rose petals and tears of many who thanks to him had something to hope for.

He would cure the sick with his touch and humble evil doers and mighty men who would seek to challenge him and his faith in the God Emperor.

Humans would organize parades and celebrations; saint days such as Sanguinalia would be instituted as they worshiped the Saint protectors and sons of the Emperor. Religious militia was formed with the blessing of Stefan and their numbers swelled with each passing day, much to the Terror of Batarians who were leaving the cities even with a minor human presence, as these humans would openly attack them and seek to expel them from the cities.

Soon enough churches and temples to other gods were burnt and remodeled to Gothic cathedrals venerating the Emperor. Talented artists and painters began painting the frescoes of the first saints to ever grace this planet as Stefan instructed them by imparting primarch visual image directly into their brains via his warp powers. At this point any who were not venerating the Emperor lived in fear or were considering and leaving the planet. Stefan ordered no human killed, for salvation would come of their own free will, this leniency brought him much love from the people he spoke to.

At this point, many humans gathered in the numerous groups, decorated with the signs of Aquila and other reliquary artifacts and began hunting for any xeno living within the overwhelmingly majority cities of the Imperial Cult.

The alliance and batarians would try to stop this course of events with peaceful acts, as they were limited in their ability to act by Citadel decrees, human rights decree of 2089, and usage of the police to break religious groupings failed catastrophically as the police either fled as the faithful attacked them, or joined the ranks of the zealots, venerating the Emperor with them. Such was collective power of faith and mind that it influenced anyone to either join them or flee in fear.

The wicked fled when no one had pursueth, but the righteous were as bold as lions.

And their deeds and acts spread with astounding speed.

One of the final desperate gambles of the Alliance government caused a chain of events that would see the planet lost to the faithful. For the governor was not content with alliance policy of sitting down and hoping the situation returns to normality, he ignored calls from Earth about not using police force in excessive measure. In his eyes the planet was covered by dissidents who caused a damp in his productivity quotas, and if such trend continued, the alliance would send a new governor, a more capable one. He would not allow that. He would take any force he could and crush the rebellious citizens and return the planet the way it was, productive and placated.

The governor of New Thebes assembled the police, and planetary military, paying them immense sums and revoking any and all laws forbidding them from killing civilians, seeking to capture or kill Stefan, though capturing was preferable as the influence of this man was something the alliance officials wanted to understand, and he would send him to them, in chains. governor went into negotiating with batarians and ask for their help, when planet returned to normal, a few billion credits going missing wont be a problem as payment for their help. They would agree and send cruelest and strongest of their ranks to assist the governor in his intention, who happily agreed to take them in.

And upon the hot july day, 14th ,known to future as "traitorous strike" the combined forces of police, military and various mercenaries, and even many batarians, did they struck at the district where Stefan was visiting. Their strike was horrible and yet unseen by the people, as they began cutting their way to reach the priest of Imperial cult.

Uncaring of any civilian casualties, certain elements of the government force would abandon their mission and began looting and raping.

As they were nearing Stefan, his faithful bodyguards set the defensive positions and improvised barricades. And opened fire upon the incoming army who returned the fire back. Stefan was unyielding, chanting many prayers to the Emperor to protect his poor flock who were dying around them, raising his hands to the heavens and yelled as strongly as he could " Praise be the Emperor!", and as all hope seemed lost, many windows from the buildings opened and from them fires were opened by the civilians, many doors were broken open and from them a veritable flood of the faithful carrying knives ,clubs and any weapons they could find storm forth and impacted upon the police shields and the military that opened the fire upon them. All as one they screamed "The Emperor wills it!".

The police was grimly outnumbered as the faithful swarmed them 20 to 1, and kept coming more and more. Soon enough a tactical retreat had to be done leading to the government sector. This was proof enough to the masses that their government wanted nothing more than to enslave them and use them as food for the xenos who fought with their enemies. Soon enough the entire New Thebes burnt in the fires of revolution as the faithful carried flags of the Aquila and various saintly icons, armed with anything they could find, be it primitive guns, knives, and swords, they all marched as one against their tyrants.

The police was first to surrender, held in makeshift prisons, they would be tended to by the priests for conversion and heretical purification, those found wanting would be slain.

Military and mercenaries along with batarians held the government mega complex, but as they killed the civilians storming them, more and more would join from neighboring cities, it was as if the entire planet had one goal in mind. Freedom.

The defenses began to crack and break as the flood was just to much to handle, the fanatics knew no fear ,and were driven by even more zealous priests who kept chanting even as they were shot and died. Entire city was rife with one singular chant that shattered the skies and brought fear to the defenders.

_**A spiritu dominatus,**_

_**Domine, libra nos,**_

_**From the lighting and the tempest,**_

_**Our Emperor, deliver us.**_

_**From plague, temptation and war,**_

_**Our Emperor, deliver us,**_

_**From the scourge of the Kraken,**_

_**Our Emperor, deliver us.**_

_**From the blasphemy of the Fallen,**_

_**Our Emperor, deliver us,**_

_**From the begetting of daemons,**_

_**Our Emperor, deliver us,**_

_**From the curse of the mutant,**_

_**Our Emperor, deliver us,**_

_**A morte perpetua,**_

_**Domine, libra nos.**_

_**That thou wouldst bring them only death,**_

_**That thou shouldst spare none,**_

_**That thou shouldst pardon none**_

_**We beseech thee, destroy them.**_

Soon enough the enemy was crushed, military killed to a man as they refused to surrender, and xenos mercenaries were caught and burnt on an improvised stakes as witches and evil kin that thought to fight against the Emperor's chosen.

Stefan himself appeared before the frightened governor and saw him for what he was, a heretic, to kill own people to further the goals of the xeno and his ilk.

"What madness holds a man to kill his own people in the name of Xenos and Heretics?" Stefan asked him

"What do you mean, you are a madman! What you are doing is insane, this genocide of yours needed to be stopped" the human governor snarled back.

"It is known the heretics will justify their evil by speaking anything that suits them. In the name of the Emperor I judge you now…and find you wanting and impossible of redemption."

"Do you worst bastard" were the final words of governor.

Stefan raised his hand and yelled the words that broke the windows left untouched by the warfare.

"Burn Heretic!"

In that instance the eyes of Stefan glowed a golden yellow as the warpish light burnt the screaming governor to ashes.

Turning away from the steaming piles of ashes, he went towards the balcony followed by his personal guard, and appeared before the ecstatic crowd that was cheering as the victory was theirs.

He raised his hands and all went silent to listen.

"Hear me children of the Emperor, for months have we struggled, and our faith was tested on numerous occasion. But on this day we stand triumphant, our faith unbroken and ever powerful. The Emperor is pleased on this day!"

The crowd yelled in approval. But his speech was not done.

"But this madness, caused by the tyrant governor and his heretical kin showed me one thing, that peace is impossible so long as xenos pollute this planet and their allies are left unchecked."

He swinged his hand and formed a fist while speaking.

"There is only one way through peace, and that is war! I Declare a Crusade on this planet and its unrepentant inhabitants, until all are freed and brought to light, and until all xenos are exterminated. So help us Emperor, we will do it so, and liberate this planet! EMPEROR VULT!"

"EMPEROR VULT!" was a thunderous shout by the crowds their eyes mad with religious favour and their mouth foaming at the thought to do the bidding to their God.

So the humans on Anhur set on the Crusade, millions of zealots and other faithful militant, would march across the planet seek xenos and battle them until extinction. The batarians dug up and defended against the unrelenting tide of humans, hoping their government will come from Batarian Hegemony and save them.

The batarian hegemony would attempt to assemble a task force to help their citizens, as the galaxy witnessed something never before seen, a Xenocide unlike that of a Rachni war. The citadel species would form any relief they could and attempt to assist the xenocided Batarians. This would take time, as they didn't face a minor rebellion, but a fanatical world filled with humans willing to die until the last to defend their new found liberty from forced xenos cohabitation. They would need many troops to even have a chance against the zealots.

Citadel rulers sought to understand the reasoning behind this surge in fanaticism and madness, countless agents were sent to Anhur and almost none returned. those that did spoke of what they saw, of wild eyed humans seeking to kill any and all aliens, of mass weapon constructions, of knife welding zealots running around the cities and hunting for non believers. They spoke about their leader, a tall human of incredible charisma to whom humans listened without questioning. But any approach to him was met with violence as the zealots and bodyguards slaughtered the spies. Citadel was in the dark about the origins of this human, and the alliance denied any and all involvement. And it was so that Citadel would expand the number of specters to counter balance the new events in the galaxy with limitations on ship building also being considered, just in case if humans proved to be to much trouble to tolerate.

The Alliance was also assembling an invasion force to crush the rebellion and bring the world to heel. But their planets were also causing problems similar to Anhur, and were ground to a halt until developing a plan what to do.

As all this occurred, various planets around the galaxy sparked in rebellion and minor insurrections and xenos murders, the other priests were doing their work as they should. And many planets that had humans on them were now causing problems. Only one planet was void of priesthood, Holy Terra itself. But that was soon to change as the most pious priests like Stefan would gather and set course for it in the nearby future.

The Cradle of Mankind would see the Light of the Emperor at last.


	9. Chapter 8: The Schism of Logic

Chapter 8: The Schism of Logic

Mars, sometime in the 41st millennium.

A sole techpriest gazes from the massive window from the spire of the Collegia Martica, his human eyes watching the movement of hundreds of thousands of vehicles flying, of uncountable servitors doing about their daily business under the watchful eyes of their augmented supervisors and the glow of millions of machines and factories piercing the reddish dark of the Martian sunrise.

Dawn was rising on the never sleeping planet that constructed thousands of ships and vehicles of war daily as the fire in its forges never went cold. In the mind of the initiate techpriest, this was a beautiful sight, and he would contribute to it, his exams and honorary augmentations implanted and complete, final lecture remained, and then he would need an exploratory fleet or becoming a pupil to one of the elder members of mechanicus in order to advance further.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a very familiar voice.

"Gazing at the glories of the Machine God yet again brother?"

Turning he saw a near 2 meter tall elder techpriest in red robe decorated with golden stripes, plasma pistol at his hip, his colleague was standing behind him. He turned and initiated binary greeting before quite humanly offering him his right hand.

"My spirit is happy to see you brother. What good tidings bring you to Mars?"

"Would you compute I would not see you in your last lecture?" he smiled warmly. "You are graduating today, and I would be there with you."

"Thank you." He responded. "It means a great deal to me." The initiate spoke.

Gesticulating with his hand and pointing at the great doors leading to an even bigger hall that was filling with red robed students, the tall techpriest spoke.

"Come. The final rites are starting."

Entering the Great hall they were met with dozens of thousands of students, all finishing their last rites and preparing for the destiny the Omnissiah set for them.

Upon taking their seats, the two techpriests observed the podium as one of the elder Magoses took the word and began speaking. The Magos himself was ancient, the initiate thought, if his years could be counted they passed into thousands at this point.

"Praise be to the Deus Machina." The elder Magos spoke.

"Praise be to the Emperor, our unificator."

"May humanity be victorious and flesh stripped for the glory of the machine."

"Ave Omnissiah" he finished

"Ave Omnissiah!" the entire hall responded.

"Students. Your lectures are over. Your faith and dedication has triumphed and will be utilized by the Imperium to further the ascension of humanity across the stars.

But as someone who has seen the galaxy and walked the stars for eons, I would have a word of warning and caution.

Our creed is our lifeblood, and our dedication to our creed is what makes the imperium work and keeps us from falling to rust and decay.

Many will be the discoveries you find, many should have been found earlier, and many more should have been buried, never to be discovered.

It is up to you to discern what is useful and what is not. For to take wrong tech, to discover and utilize the wrong idea, is to spread corruption in the code and bring our brotherhood to destruction.

Augmentation is our way, but all within the parameters of the blessing of the Machine God, for to inject alien tech into our bodies, to adopt their beliefs as our own, is to forsake the Omnissiah and all that we stand for.

Temption will exist.

But you must resist it, as Chaos and Abominable Intelligences and various Xenos would see that your creed is destroyed in order for their to take hold of your souls.

Remember this as you walk the stars.

Trust in humanity, now and always.  
Trust in Omnissiah, now and always.  
Follow the tenants of the Emperor and Omnissiah, now and always.  
Abhor the Abominable Intelligence, now and always

Do this, and you will never stray from your path. It is easy to adopt what is not made of our spirits, yet to adopt it, is to forsake what we are, and walk a path of no redemption.

See that you do not stray from the path brothers, for even the most noble of intentions could cause grief to you, and to mankind as a whole.

I bless you all in name of Omnissiah and the Emperor. "

Then as one, the initiates and techpriests stood and began chanting.

**From the weakness of the mind, Omnissiah save us**  
**From the lies of the Antipath, circuit preserve us**  
**From the rage of the Beast, iron protect us**  
**From the temptations of the Fleshlord, silica cleanse us**  
**From the ravages of the Destroyer, anima shield us**  
**From this rotting cage of biomatter**  
**Machine God set us free**

Ave Omnissiah.

The class was then disbanded and the students began leaving. Outside the great hall two friends spoke.

"Thank you for being here for me Kalmador."

"My pleasure Agrippa, but that is not the only reason I came here."

"What do you mean?"

"I have come here to ask you to join an expedition with me, we fear the Eternal enemy might be assembling another crusade, and we have formed a mechanicus fleet meant for Cadian sector, I would have you join me if you wish."

Agrippa was dumbstruck, but ecstatic.

"Absolutely Kalmador, I would join you, I would do anything to help humanity. Who is our leader?"

"His name is Magos A…" before finishing the sentence his vox transmitter flared to life and from the other side was a voice.

"Enginseer Kalmador, our expedition must be hurried, you are expected to join us within the hour. We are leaving Sol."

"Yes honorable Magos, we are on our way."

"It is time for us to go Agrippa. We will talk later during our voyage. And it is now time for you to wake up."

Agrippa was left without words.

"I don't understand, what do you mean?"

"I said Wake up Agrippa. Your duty is not over yet "

"Wh…"

The Palace was gone, he was not on Mars anymore, he was in his bed. Confusingly he sat on his bed. The cold voice of servo skull spoke again.

"Enginseer Agrippa. Awaken. Honorable Magos would see you now. He expects you within the hour. End of transmission."

He remembered now, the expedition to the Lost System, his mind was a whirlwind of pain and confusion, he was on Indomitus, after escaping the system, he lost conscience and slept for days. Only yesterday did he managed to walk on his own feet to his quarters, given 24 hours to rest by the Magos.

He remembered Kalmador, and was stricken with grief, he has known him for so long. After joining him on the mechanicus fleet, they have spent the next 80 years visiting and helping various planets, war was nothing new for him.

But on their final expedition they joined a space marine chapter on their battle barge and imperial reinforcements, jumping together into the warp, they have suffered an incident, and were now in this godless universe.

And Kalmador gave his life to save the rising imperium, his memories are now in his own brain, along with everything he knew and learned. So much information. Impossible to process without time.

"I will be right there, thank you brother" Agrippa spoke, as the servo skull went on its way.

Standing up he was dizzy for a moment, the shock of soul transfer was hard on him. he was about to put his red robes on, when he noticed in the mirror, he forgot how old he truly was. His body a combination of flesh and metal, he touched his own ribs, feeling a few made of metal, he remembered the close explosion that shattered them on one of many revolts the fleet he was part of crushed.

He moved himself away from the mirror, and donned his robes, and proceeded to walk through the hallway, this building was new, constructed by the next workforce of alien servitors on Indomitus, what was once a planet of 15000 asari, was now a multimillion world of humans and lobotomized aliens. And he was in the new headquarters of Adeptus Mechanicus, constructed to the specifications sanctioned by the Adeptus of Mars.

He hastily moved to the new office of the Magos. He could notice constant construction of humans and alien servitors moving around the new palace, the shock of this new universe had unnerved the mechanicus priests, and they were building laboratories and various custom workshops in order to adapt somehow to the change they experienced.

Arriving before the doors of Magos's office, he was about to initiate the greeting binary code, but the doors opened and he was called inside by the Magos.

"Come Enginseer Agrippa, we must leave formality aside, I would learn of your mission."

He approached the magos, bowed slightly and made a sign of Aquila on his chest. Magos responding in kind.

"Now, show me what you experienced."

He extended his hand and opened his palm, as if expecting something from Agrippa.

The right hand of Agrippa extended likewise and he placed it in the open palm of magos, and in that moment the hands opened their data circuits and connected, as the data stream began from one priest to another.

Both priests were silent as during the data transfer both sides would experience everything that was in the data in sped up time. Agrippa saw all the events that transpired from his mission. It was not a pleasant experience.

Completing the data transfer Agrippa suffered a data shock and was disoriented for a few moments. While Magos showed no signs of anything disturbing him.

"Most Curious." Magos simply said

"What you have done in that system is both to the credit of our brotherhood and tech heresy on its own. Were we in the Imperium, I would have both you and Kalmador mind wiped as punishment instead of simply vaporizing you.

"My lord I…" Agrippa tried to speak.

"But." Magos stopped him. "we are not in our universe, and what Kalmador done may very well saved us and this putrid galaxy.

His final act is a credit to him as a man, and Adeptus Mechanicus will lament his passing.

I have a mission for you, as you are more knowledgeable in these matters than any enginseer in our ranks.

We have a lost a single exploratory ship in the Magna Silica sector, considering the hostility of this galaxy, such loss is acceptable. But, more and more of our brethren were lost in that same sector. That is concerning. "

"Do we know what happened honorable Magos?" Agrippa spoke.

"The final transmission we received was following, it was coded so only our brethren could understand it" His vocal cords changed now to reflect the sender of message.

"To anyone who may be receiving within the Imperium novum. We have found the expedition…. Ssssytem Magna Prima…..Discove#ry of …..Old Vessel## #…..Black shapes of night…impossibility##…destruction…..danger….Techno….Heresy. Assistance…..as soon as possible."

"The message ends there." Magos said. "it was highly corrupted, even with my expertise I could not have purified it further. This expedition was lost for a few months now. I would not have inquired into it were it not for the information you have given me. The message mentions Old Vessel and Black shapes of Night, such information resembles the complex information Kalmador received from xenos ship.

Even I still cant understand most of what he saw, I am not sure these advanced xenos saw the world the way we do. Their message would require decoding, but one thing from the message is certain and the mention of old vessels and danger is constant through it.

It would appear when he touched the mind of this remnant machine, it was beyond terrified of the enemy that fought them, I would assume it sealed itself in the force field, rather than being sealed by outer forces. Such was its fear that it would risk insanity and isolation for millennia instead of being discovered.

. I would see you investigate further and determine the scale of the threat. If you consider yourself healed enough?"

"My lord I am honored, my wounds will not stop me. I would see our brethren saved and returned"

"I expected no less; Kalmador spoke highly of you when you were but initiate. I see he was correct."

"A friend like him would be missed" simply spoke Agrippa.

"On your quest Enginseer Agrippa, I will lend you 5 vessels, two which will carry heavy ordinance, 200m long Prospector class ships, developed by our brothers here, they were restricted in design by the resources present two years back when their construction started. Their size is enough for your mission. You are dismissed."

"I will not fail my lord" Agrippa bowed and began leaving the room, watched by the Magos.

The walk to his transport ship was not long, on his way there he saw the marvelous works they have done in these few years of isolation, from simple expedition of 13 ships, they passed 100 ships by this point, asari servitors and techpriests working day and night to produce enough of them.

Humans were increasing in number massively with each passing month, Cloning and various fertility pills were distributed freely, and encouraged for consumption, lowering the incubation period to 2 months. There was a new invasion force made by the techpriests and space marines, named the soulless ones. Born out of a silica womb of the cloning complex, they grew to adulthood within 3 years, such insane rate of growth cost them their individual personality, they only knew to obey orders, and were now numbering near 100 000.

The Space marines themselves took to their own numbers, with much arguing and coercing with the techpriests, they would see their chapter expand, for in this universe, the success of the mission was paramount. And they would need numbers to wage a galactic war, the growth of the space marines was slow, they could not use cloning tubes for their numbers lest they risk a catastrophic failure of tempering with their own gene would do it the same way they have done it in the original universe, recruiting the potential candidates and implanting gene seed into the worthy ones. it was still a tremendous task, for to find the right initiates was hard. Their numbers increased by 500 in the same time it took Soulless ones to reach 100 000.

Agrippa would command the new custom design ships, while not the size of the imperium vessels in his universe they were not lacking much in firepower. The newer ships built in the improved dockyard were increasing in size with each new expansion.

He boarded his transport and set course of his small fleet. Taking command of the Aurelian, he set sail for the system of Magna Prima.

The journey didn't took long, and they did their best to avoid any sensors or passing patrols of the citadel species, while advanced, they could not read the normal engines that propelled the imperial ships through normal space. It would appear near all technology of these species was uniform in its design, quite a weakness in case of a large scale war.

After a dozen days, jumping relay to relay, they have arrived at the Magna Prima system. Long range scanners detected a small habitable planet and an energy signature big in scale. Agrippa ordered a slow and careful approach.

As they drew near they saw a black shape in orbit of the planet,it was a near 2 kilometer object of unknown design, it was the energy signature discovered, it seemed incapacitated, its hull broken and shattered by whatever it was fighting around the planet, but the most surprising thing was that mechanicus vessels constructed a crude installation on it, and small ships were seen moving from planet to the tentacle like object.

Agrippa was surprised, some of these matched the signatures of the missing explorator ships, he opened a vox link directly to them.

"This is Enginseer Agrippa, on the mission by most noble Magos. Identify yourselves. Your vessels emit signatures by the Adeptus Mechanicus, what is your mission here?"

There was no response from the other side, all ships broke away from the black object in orbit and began their descent towards the planet.

"Engage shields and follow them into the orbit, i don't like this."

The void shields flared to life, and they began their approach. They detected a built installation on the planet, all ships landed there. But as they neared the planet there was a huge energy signature from some 100 km from the complex.

"Lord Agrippa, there is a coagulation of immense power at one point on the planet"

"What kind of energy signature?" was what he said before there was a huge laser beam flying at them. It impacted one of the escorts and crushed through its void shields bringing them down.

"Evasive actions! Ships spread out!" Agrippa shouted. As another beam blasted against them and cut through the now shieldless Tarantum, which exploded viciously. Vox was filled with screams and destruction before silence.

"Techpriest Jurnum, respond! Tarantum! Is anybody alive." Agrippa yelled to his vox cast.

There was another flash of light and heavy vessel prospector class named Antoninus was impacted, its void shields holding but near collapse.

"Open fire against the planetbase weapon! Bring it down!"Agrippa demanded on his vox.

4 ships in the fleet began firing against the huge energy weapon, black as the night, their weapons were made for fleet to fleet combat, not such installations that had immense shield reactors. Their impacts reflected against the blue shield.

"Lord Agrippa" target servitor said "Our weapons cause damage to it, but we would require sustained fire for 10 minutes in order to breach through the shields and destroy it."

"We do not have 10 minutes. Load the nuclear arsenal, we will obliterate it."

"such damage would result in radioactivity encompassing 500km from the blast site. Destruction not certain. Requesting confirmation."

There was no time to respond as one to many blasts impacted on Antoninus, bringing their shields down.

"There is no time for this. We will make a path." Enginseer Nikolaus of Antonius said.

"Nikolaus what do you mean? we must fall back."

"Would you deny us our moment of glory Agrippa? We all have our destinies, this one is ours." The engines went into overdrive and Antoninus sped towards the planet and the huge energy installation.

"Nikolaus! I order you to fall back!"

"I said we would make a path for you, and upon my honor we will. May we meet on Mars."

"Nikolaus, damn you! Don't do this!"

"Pax Imperialis! We die in the service of the Emperor! Pax Imperialis my brothers!" Was what Nikolaus shouted as his ship broke orbit and began burning on entry, huge laser installation firing and barely missing."

"Pax Imperialis! Ave Omnissiah! " the entire crew of Antoninus shouted as they went to their fate."

Moments later there was an impact, and a bright flash as Antoninus used itself to give chance to the fleet and destroy the installation. The shockwave burnt through 40km of surrounding land as Antoninus went in a blaze of glory, death echoes of its crew shockwaving against the data cores of the mechanicus ship Aurelian that recorded it all.

"We will not fail you Antoninus. All ships deploy soldiers at the installation, we will know the actions behind our treasonous brothers. Kosmodus ,you have the ship" Agrippa said as he moved from his captain's seat and moved to the drop pod.

Entering it ,inside were skitarii and few guardsmen. The Skitarii leader stood up and walked around the pod and spoke to his men.

"We are mechanical lions, the Omnissiah himself watches over us and smiles; he knows that bastards we are going to kill went against his name. I expect you to keep tight formation, and kill all the heretics that went against the Imperium of Man. Do you get me!? " he yelled.

"We get you sir!" The skittari responded as one.

Drop pod broke lose amongst dozens of others and sped against the installation that opened anti air fire upon them.

"Remember this day men, for we make history. We are about to show justice to these heathens. " Skitarii Alpha sergeant said.

There was a shake inside as one of the nearby pods exploded.

Moments later they slammed against the ground. And pod doors opened as the eager soldiers rushed out welcomed by machine gun power.

"Go go go! Get to cover!" was the order of the sergeant as he rushed outside among the first soldiers.

Agrippa and various soldiers rushed out seeking cover, his plasma pistol singing the tune of death as it fried the first soldier it impacted. To his momentary horror he wore blue robes, but in shapes of the mechanicus.

The various blue mechanicus looking soldiers made a crude defensive formation as they sought to stop the relentless advance of Agrippa and his soldiers. They were fast, with bionics uncommon to the mechanicus, almost as if blending the current universes tech and and mechanicus implants. Their weapons were a combination of lasgun strength but with the reload time of a mass effect weapons, using clips to cool down the weapon, as the rate of fire was incredible.

For each blue robed adept they killed, they would take 2 or 3 of Agrippa's men. From the inside of complex stormed out near hundreds of asari and human servitors, but unlike any of the normal ones used by the Imperium, these were far faster with weapons that seemed to combine the imperial tech and some unknown xenos tech, they closed quarters with the melee units of the mechanicus as they began tearing each other limb from limb.

The terrors didn't stop there, as from the complex emerged Silica Animus, 7 meter tall abomination of human flesh and metal tissue, combined in such a way that was offensive both to the human flesh and mechanicus metal perfection. It unleashed various armaments on the skitarii that sought to bring it down.

As it soaked up normal lasgun volleys as if nothing, only combined melta and plasma weaponry managed to bring it down at the horrible cost of soldiers of the Emperor.

Still, Agrippa had numbers on his side, his ships were filled with soldiers that he knew would be needed to face the enemy that took the priests of mechanicus, but he did not expect his enemies to be these same priests that were missing.

"Brothers stop your firing, we are kin!" one of the skitarii yelled at the blue techpriests.

"We refuse your false Omnissiah, we have found our God." Was a response from the other side.

"What madness do you speak off!? I will cut your tongue heathen!" the skitarii spoke as he fired his plasma rifle at the heretical techpriest, melting him as he screamed.

"it is you who are at fault, we have seen the truth! And we will not be contained by your false God." Another blue priest spoke as he shot his combination of bolter and mass effect gun, blasting a servitor to pieces.

"These people are mad! Brothers we must get to the core of this lunacy, break their backs, we must push onwards"Agrippa said, as he fired his pistol, and as if inspired his men began their charge against the last remnants of the blue priesthood that started falling back into the complex.

"This is madness, look at their flesh, they have ingrained xenos tech into themselves."one of the skitarii noted as he passed over a blue clothed corpse.

"Is everyone from the lost expeditions like this?"the other spoke.

"Only one way to find out, we breach the complex sanctum, and find their leader if they have one. " Agrippa said as they pushed inside, leaving red and blue dead soldiers outside. Brother slaughtered brother. Madness was the lord of this day, and it would claim many more in its gluttonous maw.

Every move was contested as the blue techpriests fought them tooth and nail, it was a desperate struggle, for they were far outnumbered, as the number in the lost expedition didn't number more than 600.

Inside the complex was tech heresy in abundance, various displays of weapons born out of madness and xenos meddling, they were committing the ultimate heresy, they were inventing new technologies and mixing human and xenos tech. it was safe to assume that the laser battery outside was constructed by merging unholy xenos tech and mechanicus engineering. They were beyond redemption.

It wasn't long before few pockets of blue priests were isolated and besieged. Agrippa wasted no time on them, his skitarii would be enough, he walked to the energy signature in the center of the building.

The doors opened and let them in, in it a human like figure stood, his body a perfect mixture of man and machine, in the center of the hall was a huge black object, that closed when Agrippa went in.

"Welcome brother" a blue techpriest spoke.

"I am not your brother heretic. What madness did you unleash here?" Agrippa angrily asked.

"Madness? It was madness that prevented us from growing, but now do we see the light, shown to us by the dead machine that still dreamt."

"The huge dead vessel in the orbit of the planet? That showed you the way? You are even madder than I thought. "

"I could not expect you to understand, with your limitations. The great machine showed us way to improve ourselves, it was one of many, it was part of a legion of star gods that rule this galaxy."

"We rule this galaxy, the Imperium rules it. You lost the sight of your mission adept."

"Or was the mission false to begin with. Would you not join us, see for yourself the perfection of the machine." At that moment the great object opened, and spoke in the mind of Agrippa.

"**Foolish organic being. You do not comprehend what you face here**."

"What are you? Get out of my head!"Agrippa said as he grasped his head.

"**We are older than the stars, we do not have beginning, and we do not have the end. We simply Are. You lack the knowledge to comprehend our magnitude. ** "

" are you an Abominable Intelligence, how did you enslave my brothers?"

"**We have no name, but the beings before you named us before their extinction, they named us Reapers. And we have come to collect our harvest. As for your brothers** **they joined willingly. When they discovered my sleeping body, they studied me in detail, and I taught them, day by day, what it means to be truly free of organic restraints, look at the marvels they constructed inspired by my divine will.**

**There were those who would not yield or listen to my words. You saw them as the creatures known as servitors outside, in the end, they all obeyed. **"

" You killed my brothers! Foul creature, you may have took the minds of my kin here, but there are more of us, we will end you."

" **Your ending is predetermined, but you may still prove useful. You can be perfect in body, was this not what you wanted? It is foolish to resist**."

"We…will never…be your puppets!" the mind pain was immense, it feels as if the being is gnawing at his soul, he realized if he breaks, he would be lost.

"**Servitude is preferable to death. Obey your God**."

He lifted his pistol at the giant heart of the Reaper, bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth and ears. And in that instance, both him and the memory of Kalmador took the same stance, pistol poiting at the various machine entities that claimed godhood. Both he and Kalmador's memory spoke.

"Gods do not bleed"

The pistol fired and impacted upon the heart of the reaper causing serious damage, as the blue robed priest recoiled in pain and grasped himself on the chest. His mind link to the machine strong, he jolted forwards in pain to stop Agrippa, grasping him by the right pistol hand with his improved bionics.

" You will suffer for this!" both him and reaper speaking at the same time.

He began applying pressure and cracked the hand of Agrippa, who yelled in pain. His pistol flew away. But one of his bionic hands from the robe appeared and fired a high energy laser into the chest of the blue priest that was blasted 5 meters away, the gun melted from overcharge as Agrippa steeled himself.

He lacked time as the reaper priest jumped to his legs, biotics of incredible quality propelling him fast at the wounded priest. Slaming him with his right hand so much that his right shoulder was obliterated, and bone shattered into pieces, few ribs following as he was propelled meters away and fell near his pistol, the blue priest marched at him, but agripa used his left hand, even as he was blacking out from pain. And pointed at him.

" I refuse your offer of servitude, burn in the warp machine daemon!"

The blue energy striked at the reaper priest melting his legs firstly, as he fell and chest soon began to follow; he silently attempted to use his hands to crawl to Agrippa, intent on killing him as well. But the searing hot plasma melted his hands, and only his dead eyes followed Agrippa as he stood from his lying position, before the plasma melted his brain circuits, ending its existence.

Agrippa self-injected regenerative liquids that prevented him from fainting as he approached the enclosed heart of the Reaper. He mused at the thought of connecting and learning what it knew. But he heard a voice before doing that.

"Stop Agrippa. You mustn't do that."

He looked around him, and saw nothing.

"Who said that? Show yourself!"

"Have you forgot your friends Agrippa." Before him Kalmador stood.

"but that is impossible…you are dead?"

"Yes. I am, but I still exist in you, as a ghost, my memories are part of you now. As long as you exist, so will I in a way."

"how is that possible? "

"nothing is impossible ,for the machine is strong brother, wasn't that what they taught us at the academy? " Kalmador smiled.

"What did you mean about connecting with the machine, wasn't that something you did?"

"You underestimate how ancient this machine is. How do you think Enginseer Judas was corrupted? He attempted to take in the knowledge of the machine, but his soul was overwhelmed and devoured by the machine's intelligence. It was easy for it afterwards to corrupt the rest of the techpriests who trusted their leader."

"how do you know that Kalmador?" he was feeling dizzy as the blood loss and the pain were getting to him.

"The archives of the prothean race should make more sense to you now, as you encountered one of the enemies of the ancient races. It was they that caused the extinction of the protheans and near extinction of the AI being we fought together. And they would do the same to us, you have seen firsthand what they are, and you must go back to Magos, tell him what you saw, we must prepare for their arrival."

"When….when will that be Kalmador…I cant…" he fell to his knees.

"Even I don't know that old friend. I am but a specter, it is to the living to save the living. But rise now, you will not die here." Kalmador offered him his hand, he grasped it and stood up, but he was not there anymore.

He looked around him, and then his eyes fixated on the machine heart, it was open, and it was gazing at him. he felt its attempts to connect with his mind again, invitation to meld together, to speak and learn, almost too tempting.

He let his plasma pistol do the melding and talking. As the relic pistol glowed red hot from overuse almost to the point of explosion, but the machine heart burnt and melted, the God was dead.

It was at that moment that his skitarii broke into the chamber doors that were closed. They wasted no time and assisted Agrippa who nearly fell from the pain and shock. They helped him walk away.

"Tell our brothers to prepare the operation table on the vessel, Enginseer Agrippa is badly wounded. "one of the skitarii spoke

"Affirmative" cold servitor voice responded

another skitarii detachment joined one accompanying Agrippa. "We have cleared this place, there are no survivors, and do we take their technology?"

"no" Agrippa said. "this place is an affront to all our beliefs, it must be cleansed. We must return to the ships."

"as you wish my lord" skitarii soldier said.

They have abandoned the complex as it burnt behind them. And took to their shuttles and departed to the main vessels in orbit.

"we must get enginseer to the operation room!" one of the meditech priest spoke.

"let me go, I can walk on my own" Agrippa said, and they done so. He came closer to the bridge near the weapon servitor.

"Aim for the complex, all our nuclear warheads, full yield, tell other ships to do the same, full fire at it. Nothing must remain. We burn it from orbit; it's the only way to be sure."

"As you wish lord." Servitor answered coldly.

And from the ships a swarm of nuclear missles and other weapons flew towards the complex destroying it and hundreds of kilometers around it. The planet became a radioactive ball, and if there is any life on it, it would go extinct within a century, a small price to pay for the salvation of mankind.

He stood watching for the moment as the nuclear warheads exploded and bathed the planet in searing heat, destroying all remnants of his heretical brothers, before noticing the ominous dark glow of the dead reaper, he approached one of the vox servitor, barely standing.

"i want one of the ships to drag this abominable intelligence corpse, and launch it towards the sun. we must not let it take hold of anyone ever again."

"Yes lord, i will notify one of the brother ships to do so" servitor replied.

Agrippa ,seeing the planet burn in nuclear Armageddon steped away from the servitor and proceeded himself to the medical room, followed by meditech priests.

"break for the relay, we must inform the magos of our findings..now."

Reaching the medical room, he laid on the operation table and let his conscience drift away.

"His hand is obliterated, it must be replaced."

"Yes. Administer the sleeping agent. Patient must be still as we proceed with bionics."

His mind wandered and he found himself again in his lecturing hall, listening to the ancient Magos speak.

"Our golden age was ended due to our greed and pride, we have let Abominable intelligences run our planets and armies for us, and when they revolted, they nearly exterminated us all.

AI's are not to be trusted, they are to be hated and destroyed upon sight. And all technology not made by human hands are to be discarded, for anything not originating within our brotherhood is meant for our destruction, and will never be salvation.

Trust in humanity, novices; trust in each other, as we explore the stars and find long lost secrets of our ancient past."

The mechanical eyes of the Ancient magos locked with those of Agrippa as he spoke.

"Humanity must never fall into another dark age where machines, not man, run and rule our futures, to allow that, is to fail the Omnissiah and his vision of human ascendancy." He turned to the hall raised his hands and spoke.

"Abhor the Abominable Intelligence, now and always!"

Entire hall spoke as one

"Abhor the Abominable Intelligence, now and always!"

They were repeating that same mantra, as darkness came over Agrippa's eyes, and he fell to sleep.


	10. Chapter 9: The Migration of Despair

Chapter 9: The migration of Despair

Khar'shan the galactic slave capital, noon.

He is restless; walking up and down the palace corridors expecting and invitation to enter the Premier's cabinet, anger consumes his every thought, more so than usual.

Taking a moment to rest, he gazes from one of the many Windows's of the ruler's palace, before him lies his homeworld, on paper and galactic news Khar'shan is a mighty planet, home to superior industries and huge population of 15 billion, where unity reigns supreme, as a symbol to the galaxy how planets should be.

Reality tends to disappoint.

The planet would remind any human, should they be allowed to visit out of their own will, of ancient Rome. On its surface millions upon millions of batarians and other races slaved away in factories under the worst conditions, poverty and despair gripped the hearts of its native citizens, as their state held a tight iron grip on their every action.

Corruption was norm, and to advance further up the hierarchy one would either had to be rich, or well connected, for even the Great Leader of Batarians desired a cut for himself.

And now Rakoshi waits, it has been years since his fleet was destroyed in Elona system, and every night he dreams of it, the blood, the death, he would revel in it if he wasn't the defeated one in it.

He has spent this time wisely, using his connections to gather sizable funding and vessels to aid him in his desire to vengeance, he would find the leader of this band of bastards that destroyed his fleet and devour his heart. He promised this to himself, and renews the promise daily like a prayer.

And now he is on Khar'shan, he is doing something he swore he would never do, and ask his brother , the premier of the Batarian Hegemony to lend assistance. The mere thought of it sickens him, and he would rather gouge his eyes than ask for help. But the promise of vengeance is to much even for Rakoshi to pass.

The great doors decorated in colorful woods and gold plating opened, from which stepped a small and lavishly dressed batarian. He spoke

"Premier Korashi would see you now. "he gesticulated towards the room and the desk where another batarian sat.

"About time" Rakoshi snarled, as he almost pushed the smaller batarian aside while stepping inside the room.

The doors closed and from behind them, two batarians holding weapons dressed in red uniforms stepped forward.

Rakoshi knew any sudden move would be his last.

"Brother…" a hoarse voice came from the man sitting at the table. "it has been how long? Seven, eight years since you last saw me. To what do I owe the pleasure?" The Premier stood up, he was dressed in red grey military uniform, decorated with countless medals made of the most valuable metals.

"It has been 15 years, and I need your help." Rakoshi spoke while gazing behind his shoulder at the two soldiers who were all too eager for him to make a wrong move.

"ha ha ha, I never thought I'd live to see the day." He spoke while pouring himself Bataraos brandy and filling the other cup, grasping it and offering it to his beloved brother before continuing. "Why would I help you Rakoshi?"

"Because I have something you need brother, I don't love you, and It is quite certain that you do not love me if you offer me your trademark farewell drink." Speaking he grasped it and drank it in one go.

The premier Korashi chuckled "And pray tell Rakoshi, what would I have need of you, need I remind you that you have raided our own convoys and captured hundreds of our comrade workers for your own purposes?" he gazed upon him angrily

"Those comrades were in chains; the only difference in their life is that they have changed the master. You are not a saint either dear brother, but you are a shrewd man, and I can offer you power to cement your rule. Perhaps…" he gazed around himself before speaking in a lower tone"…becoming the new leader as well."

These words caused unease even in the premier himself, as he took a moment to collect himself. The guards moved towards rakoshi, intent on arresting him, before being stopped by the premier, who raised his hand.

"Speaking such words is sure way to get yourself into the Guh'Laga. I will have no more of your treasonous words. Guards take him away."

Soldiers grasped Rakoshi by the arms as he spoke.

"You would risk your only chance of gaining war technology unlike seen in citadel space, enough to make Batarian Hegemony the sole ruler of this galaxy!?"

"Stop!" Premier Korashi spoke, "let him go". The guards did as commanded.

"If this his one of your tricks, I swear brother, I will exact horrible things upon you" premier spoke as he went from behind his desk and up face to face with his brother. "Speak now, did you discover some prothean technology to give us an edge?"

"Not quite" Rakoshi retorted. "I will explain to you what I mean."

He spoke about everything , his slave raid gone wrong, the superiority of the enemy fleet, the weapons they used, everything ,save for a place where to locate the planet.

"That is quite a story Rakoshi, and I think its full of shit. Do you consider me for a fool? Armor clad giants firing exploding rounds, massive 7 kilometer ship firing armaments of light and mauling your ships? And best of all, a huge bipedal machine on the ground killing your men, I say, you have quite the imagination. Worse yet, you have gone utterly mad."

Turning around, the premier spoke "I want you gone, I give you life this time, from this moment you will be hunted by our fleets and not enjoying the protection you had until this point."

"Bah!" Rakoshi yelled. "Gaze upon this you bastard, I do not lie"

He approached the terminal and injected a small memory stick. "What are you doing?" Premier asked.

"Proving my words aren't shit as you consider them to be." He responded simply as he played the video.

On it, there was a recording his personal helmet cam took of their land invasion. The premier couldn't hide his surprise as he saw red, blue and white giants killing the batarian slavers as if they were flies, the carnage surprised him, no citadel race was so proficient in killing, and such brutality isn't even seen with Krogan.

In utter silence they have watched the video recording of what was the first encounter of Batarians and this unknown and powerful enemy. Even the two guards couldn't help but watch in amazement at the sights that happened in the video.

The video ended, and the premier spoke first

"That was incredible, such potential for firearms development, the possibilities….they are endless."

"Yeah…you can have all those, all I want is revenge. Is this convincing enough to help me?" Rakoshi responded

"It might be. Where is the system location?"

"That will remain a secret until you agree to help me. I am not that stupid Korashi. What I need from you is all the spare ships you can get me, and a good trustworthy informant to send a message to the Quarian fleet."

The premier took a pause before speaking. "The quarians? I don't understand…"

"They are searching for a new home world, supposedly the new faction within the fleet won in their elections, one that decided they have roamed the galaxy for long enough, and are now actively searching for a planet to settle and begin anew. So say the quarians on pilgrimage.

The Council isn't making it easy for them, denying them any planet within their sphere of influence; they are getting quite desperate…and just in time.

That is where I need your help, besides the ships. I need an informant to notify them of the supposed habitable planet, someone they can trust, with guarantees that it is not a lie which will cause their entire fleet to be on the move towards the enemy.

They destroy the enemy, or the enemy destroys them, I will swoop in with my fleet and destroy any remnant, then the vengeance will be mine, and you can take any technology you want.

Does this sound like a good deal to you….brother?"

The premier walked up to his chair and sat down, gazing at the still image of an astartes grasping the dead corpse of the batarian while gazing directly at the camera. The thought for a moment, before looking at Rakoshi.

"You will get what you need, leave me while I make preparations, we will keep in touch."

Rakoshi did a small bow motion towards his brother, smiling, before moving towards the door that started opening.

"And Rakoshi…." The premier spoke, causing his brother to turn towards him.

"Double cross me. And you will know the meaning of the word pain. I swear this to you." His eyes were cold, colder than usual, colder than even his brother known them to be, even Rakoshi felt shivers on his back from those words and that gaze.

He intended to say something in response, but was unable to do so, he just nodded slightly with his head and began his walk away from the premiers office.

Rakoshi was committed now, he will have his vengeance, one way or another.

The Die was cast.

Quarian fleet, Citadel Space

The fleet of the Quarians, their home and their livelihood, here, thousands of quarians are born and live, their homeworld forever gone to their own abominable children, the Geth. They are race of machines given sentience by the hubris of the then young Quarians, ignoring the warnings of the Council and the common sense, they invented a thinking machine, the devil in the circuit, and the devil claimed their souls, those who escaped now live in flotilla, ever migrating, cursed to wonder the stars without their home…or so it was, until a new Admiral decided to spite the webs of fate, and find a home for his people.

Inside the admiral's ship, there is a commotion, countless quarians running about, the newly arrived message stirring the hornet's nest.

Two quarians walked side by side as they sped towards the main bridge.

"Are you sure this is valid Mon'sha? We cant afford a misstep now."

"Quite certain Supreme Admiral, this information comes from the shadow broker himself, the information is concrete and valid. We have found our world, but we must make haste, according to the broker, there will be other claimants. "

"Why would the broker help us, is there more to this message?"

"Nothing save that we will be in his debt when the time for collecting comes, he will know if we accept the condition after our fleet moves towards the star system."

"We have nothing to lose, except gain a home for our people, collect as much fuel as possible, gather the supplies, we will move in two waves, to ensure the safety, our military vessels will go through the relays first, and second wave would be our civilian ships with their escorts. Make sure we have ammo and necessary weapons, in case there is a contesting claim on the system."

"You would engage in hostilities?" the second quarian stopped and said to the admiral

"Mon'sha, we might have something big at our hands, our people have suffered enough, we must have a planet to adapt to, where we will see our children grow." He spoke as he placed his hand on his shoulder

"I would love nothing else Admiral, but to fight…"

"…Is to survive Mon'sha, if not for ourselves, than for future generations. Then again, we have over 50 000 vessels in our fleet, nobody is that insane to engage us in battle. Come now, we must make preparations."

The second quarian hesitated for a second, then followed his admiral to the bridge.

Bridge was filled with quarians doing various tasks, the preparations for the journey is well under way, most took this information with incredible joy, they had high hopes the new admiral will find them a planet to settle and call home.

Ever since the elections 9 years ago, where Admiral Rael'Zorah lost his position of power to the new Admiral Arahi'ler vas Heimat, people had high hopes for a new planet, the prospect of Rael taking the quarians on a total war against the Geth didn't sit well with the fleet and they voted him out. Ashamed, he abandoned the fleet and resumed his pilgrimage, much to the dismay of his loyal friends.

Other admirals took note of this and followed the leadership of the new Admiral, the subsequent reformations in the fleet and its behavior increased the popularity of the new leader of the quarians, the fleet began mining many asteroids and refining them on several planetary outposts they have established under the orders of Arahi'Ler, this increased the fleet's wealth, and increased the trading between the fleet and other planets they happened to come across with, so much so that many underdeveloped planets prospered and were glad to see the massive quarian fleet passing by with whom they could trade food and other supplies for refined metals used in construction.

Admiral Arahi'Ler established a small construction effort, utilizing skilled quarian engineers to construct ships for their fleet, instead of just buying scrap models from other races, without a planet and dedicated shipyards, this was done on a minimal scale, still it proved successful and provided new insights and desires of the Quarian people to become sedentary once more.

Such was the new admirals popularity, that he issued reformation in the leadership, no longer was fleet led by four admirals who were equal, now after the "Migratory and Domestic prospect act", a series of leadership reformations and Law acts, Admiral Arahi'Ler held more power then ever before, this implied the new admiral could issue any act without the necessity for other admiral approval when it comes to domestic affairs and the future of the fleet, and as such, other admirals could issue new laws, with availability of the new admiral to issue Veto on any of them, should he deem it necessary for the survival of the fleet. Other admirals could potentially overturn any acts of the Supreme Admiral, thanks to the loophole that what he deems necessary for the fleet passes or not, they were quite impotent in anything that might damage his power.

This made the Quarian fleet into a little more than a dictatorship, after all it was justified…when questioned the new admiral said. "Anything must be done for the Quarian people. Bureaucracy would hold back our prospects for the future. When we find a new home, we will revert back to the ways of our ancestors, but for now, we must act, not talk."

This made it possible for Quarian leadership to find a way into Eugenics research, funding for developing a vaccine for curing their weak imuno system, from outright attempting at genetic manipulation to make Quarians possible to colonize new worlds. Many were researches made by the quarians in the field of genetics under the rulership of Arahi'Ler, and some inventions made it possible to colonize certain planets with bio domes and other technologies, so they pleaded to the council for a potential planet, with no success.

The image of the Quarians as thieves and no good nomads began to wane in the following years, and they were a bit more welcome sight in the citadel space. But the Stigma of creating a true thinking Artificial Intelligence and accidently unleashing it to endanger any and all life in the cosmos, never abandoned them, and as such, the Council or any other race denied all requests for a planet to settle within their territories.

This naturally caused much resentment from the quarians who now viewed the citadel races as tyrants and increased their isolationism further. They would find the planet on their own. And so they searched for one, finding a couple, but with crushing gravities and hostile bio organisms that were lethal to the Quarian biology.

It would seem their quest is a failure, until they received a message with the galactic coordinates of a potential home. Once again, the fleet is on the move.

The bridge was a cacophony of voices, and Admiral Arahi was with his admirals, planning for an expedition, his new flagship, the Pride of Rannoch was a kilometer long vessel armed with custom weapons made by the quarians themselves, it was their pride, and potentially one of many ships made by them.

He was interrupted in his planning by a crew member.

"Supreme Admiral, Tali Zorah requests to speak with you, what should I tell her?"

The supreme admiral grasped his helmet, almost as if his head was hurting.

"'Sigh', tell her I will meet her in my office within a hour."

"Yes supreme admiral" crew member said and bowed slightly.

The inside of the the admirals office was simple, it lacked decoration, and was quite Spartan in style, it was fitting of an officer like Arahi'Ler, his skirmishes with the Geth and Batarian pirates brought him much fame amongst his people, three medals decorated the wall of his office, earned through grueling war.

He gazed upon them, touching gently his left shoulder, remembering the wound of the geth bullet, the medics were amazed he lived through it, his suit was compromised, and he was exposed to various biological contaminants for an hour more after the point of no return. He was found semi unconscious surrounded by Geth corpses, and was rescued.

After a month he requested to join the combat yet again, only to realize the admiralty board decided to retreat and leave the planet onto the Geth.

He was broken, as he thought the war was winnable, have the Admiralty didn't lost their courage and surrendered. Many years have passed since then, and the scars of that war were still fresh with him.

And yet he lived, time and time again, he refused to die until he could do justice to his people.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by the entrance of young Tali'Zorah

"Admiral, thank you for receiving me" Tali spoke as she entered, her clothes were unlike her pilgrimage ones, she was dressed in officer clothes of the vice admiral of the civilian fleet, her blue head garment reflecting this, she didn't wore her usual mask, as the new technology integrated in the fleet allowed the quarian people to walk around with minimal protection, at least on their own fleet.

"Pleasure, please, take a seat young Zorah, you wanted to speak?"

"yes, I have to relegate my worries about our current expedition"

"What worries you?"

"The message from the Shadow broker is weird at best, but to do us service and find us a planet? That is suspicious, the broker doesn't deal in charity"

" Ah, that troubles you. It isn't charity miss Zorah, upon our success and settlement we would be obliged to help the broker by providing a safe haven for his operations and agents if he requires so, as well as some monetary support as well."

"And that isn't weird? Broker asking for something he no doubt has in abundance?"

"Perhaps, but the coordinates he provided do indeed show that the region we go towards is unexplored, should his information prove correct, we will return the favour, should it be false… Then we keep searching, and remember his lies for the future."

"Admiral, please, we must not do this, our resources are already strained to the breaking point, we must bide our time and…"

"And what miss Zorah? Bade time until our extinction? Until the Council decides we are worthy enough for a small barren rock in the middle of the galactic nowhere where they could control us? No, we will not wait, time we do not have, tomorrow we begin the first jump, and within several days we will enter the unexplored region, traveling through Zama relay."

"Zama relay, but that system is forbidden, many ships were lost there, you will endanger the fleet!"

"We have over fifty thousand ships, we are armed and ready for anything, and I will not be questioned by you young lady, your pilgrimage may have been cut short by the request of your father, but that does not give you the right to question my orders even if you are the vice admiral of the civilian fleet!" he spoke as he pointed towards her.

"I will do anything for the fleet!" She said standing up

"Then do as you are told Zorah, we need unity more than anything else! If you want to do something useful for your people, return to your post and obey my orders! We are done with this conversation, you are dismissed."

"Admiral i…"

"I said dismissed vice admiral, return to your post." He spoke looking at her sternly, his strong gaze piercing her.

"Yes…Sir." She spoke, saluting with a semi raised hand, reminiscent of the Roman salute from Terra, and then exited through the doors.

The Admiral sighed, and stood up, looking through his void window at the assembled ships outside. The first ships were passing through the relay already, if they are lucky, he thought, any hardship they endured so far would be rewarded in kind. He moved away from the window and towards the door returning to the main bridge.

Tali returned to her ship and resumed her post, but was not content with sitting idly by while so many doubts gripped her mind. She began coding, determined to find out where the message came from, if at all possible. Consumed by her work even as the fleet kept jumping through the relay, giving a quick glance at the mass of ships moving towards the relay, time was of the essence, and she was running out of time.

As the ships warped away, they were kept under the vigilant eyes of their unseen plotters. They have taken the bait.

On the other side of the galaxy, the Indomitus system was on full alert.

The imperial nation became aware of the movement the migration was doing, but not the reason as to why.

Inside the observatorium at the edge of the imperial territory, the astropaths cried in pain as they relegated the messages to the headquarters. It was a simple message made of one word at first.

Invasion.

There was a huge fleet of xenos on the move, and by their current course they will be arriving in their territory soon. This was unexpected, such retaliation was unexpected, worst yet, the imperium wasn't aware of the scope and the size of war fleet the xenos could assemble. They were in danger of extermination now.

The best void commanders of the imperium assembled, with their mechanicus and priesthood allies, accompanied by the leadership of white eagles.

The command room was filled with shouts and yells, this was no laughing matter a large fleet of tens of thousands of ships was moving against them, they needed to act.

"This is outright madness! The xenos are marching on us and you advise we dug in? we should strike preemptively, they would not except that!" one of the void commanders spoke

"And what then, our fleet numbers 140 ships now, with some 30 in construction, sure our vessels are far superior to the enemy, but not even the lion can withstand thousands of ants swarming him! we must wage war of attrition, place mines everywhere, from relay to relay, let the enemy burn itself out!" Another commander responded

"And then they will switch course, through the relays we guard even lighter! They will hit us from the sides, at this rate they are marching through the relays most fortified, we must fight them entire way to the indomitus, Emperor forgive me, we might have to sacrifice Aurelian System to stall them until we can properly regroup…"

At these words the hall erupted into a mess of shouts and yells.

"Preposterous! We will not give a solar centimeter of our land to the xenos! "

"Let us destroy the relays leading to Aurelian, we know it can be done, the tech priests have proven it possible! Isolation is preferable to extinction."

"You would assume humanity cowardly enough to do that! Heretic!"

"And what would you do Krassus! How will you stop them! We must fall back!"

Many were voices shouted by the admirals as the Lord Commanders and Space Marine void leaders sat silently and watched. For the first time since their arrival, a true danger was moving at them, everything they worked for until this point will be put to the test.

Lord Commander Tiberius stood up from the podium and raised his hands, one by one the commanders calmed down.

"Panic will not help us brothers

Are we not the Emperors finest, our ships and weapons are second to none. We must exploit their lack of knowledge about our weapons and tactics to its fullest.

The enemy must pass through the three final relays before they reach Aurelian system, beyond the fourth lies indomitus, and our fate.

We know they pass through the relay in waves, military vessels go first, and the rest of the heavy looking ships go last, so our scouts say. We harass their advance, but we do not attack outright, lest we put them on defensive. Between the second relay that leads to Aurelian, we will strike, the military vessels will pass into the Aurelian system and will be engaged by 80% of our fleet, as well as using the "Atlas" installation.

At that point our second portion of the fleet will attack their supply convoys and the second wave that will be isolated on the other side, struck between anvil and the hammer they will be unable to coordinate properly.

It is the only way to do this without engaging their entire fleet on one spot. We will have support from Aurelian and various defensive systems, and as always, with the Emperors blessing, we will prevail, as we have always done!"

Lord Commander Tiberius sat down, the hall was silent, after a minute of silence that seemed like the eternity, the admirals and lord commanders agreed, this was the way it must be done.

The planning began; they had mere days until Quarian arrival. And had to use them to their fullest.

The Quarian fleet entered the imperial territory, and since entering, they were under attack by smaller and very quick imperial ships that made their way to the massive fleet,they damaged or destroyed a ship and fell back before a response could be made.

The quarian leadership assumed this for a sporadic pirate attack, thinking the next system led to their lair, they would crush it and punish them for this impudence. Or so they thought.

The imperial vessels hauled asteroids and comets at the fleet, dragging them behind their ships, these were mostly destroyed by the migrant fleet, but some passed through and damaged ships, stalling the fleet. For the Imperium, every second mattered.

Various smaller craft from the imperial side, loaded with explosives charged against the fleet, ramming the much larger vessels, and critically damaging them in their kamikaze charges. Even the most cold blooded of the Admiralty didn't expect such madness from their Query.

Supreme Admiral Arahi'ler gazed as the enemy tried to stop their fleet, thinking their military force was far too small to engage them directly, he moved forward, knowing the enemy base is near them. He had a big desire to punish them for such cowardly tactics.

Tali worked feverishly, the constant attacks against the migrant fleet disturbed her, this became dangerous and fast.

She then had a breakthrough, the message itself had a specific type of encoding, to the untrained eye it would seem normal, but the specific code, deep down, was batarian military encryption, for such a secret race, they had the best encryptions in the galaxy,but she broke through it.

She downloaded quickly what she discovered to her omni tool and sped to the bridge of her ship, she had to warn the supreme admiral.

Her lungs were burning as she ran, but she reached the bridge and began hailing the Pride of Rannoch, ignoring the worried questions of the crew.

Supreme admiral saw the hails, and as much as he would love to ignore them, he decided to listen.

"Yes ms Zorah, I am busy now, we can have this discussion later." He tried to disconnect but her shouts stopped him.

"Disconnect me and see our entire race gone!"

"What the Geth damnation are you speaking about?!" he stood from his chair and yelled at his omni tool.

"The message we got, it did not come from shadow broker, it had the batarian military encryption on it! Admiral, this is a trap!"

"Are you sure about this Tali? If this a joke of your, I swear I will ensure you get a disciplinary punishment!"

"take my rank if you will, just listen! Whoever sent this message probably lied to us! There might not be a planet for us to colonize, we are here on foreign agenda!"

"that may be so...this could be a lie, but we are far too deep to pull back now, we are committed Tali, even if the message was false, the enemy ships attacking us are making fools of us, if we retreat now, we show the galaxy that we are push overs and that everyone can make fools of us. We will see this through, punish the enemy ,and if its true what you say, fall back and search for a new home."

"To hell with your pride admiral, who knows what we face here, we could be heading into damnation! "

"Watch your tone zorah! I am not some lowly officer you can shout at! Return to your post or I will have more than your rank! "

"To hell with this all, I am saving my people! "She shut down her omni tool, cutting the communication

"Zorah! "Zorah respond! Damnit!"The admiral shouted in vain.

"Get a security detachment, take her in, I will question this disobedience. "Admiral spoke as the four quarian guard saluted and went on their way. He continued to monitor the situation as the constant attack of the enemy vessels continued, the soldier in him took over and he desired to punish these bastards more than anything.

Meanwhile Tali broadcasted a speech to the civilian fleet, urging them to fall back and not venture further as they all could be going to a massive slaughter. Her reputation and love of certain quarians for her father caused some 3 to 4 thousand ships from the civilian fleet to detach from the main group, along with escorts and begin retreating towards the relay and citadel controlled space. Some 2 million out of 14 million quarians were in the ships now under direct command from Tali, the most populous ships were now abandoning the main fleet, for the first time in 300 years.

The Supreme Admiral was out of himself when he saw part of his fleet going away, he contemplated going after them and arresting Tali, but to do that would compromise the integrity of his fleet further. So he let them go, after their success he would come back and inflict serious punishment on them, for this was treason of the highest order.

As the two now separate quarian fleets drifted their different paths, the imperial onslaught continued on the biggest portion of the fleet led by Admiral Arahi.

The imperial command thought portion of the enemy has lost heart and was now retreating, but still had few ships stalking their movement in fears they were flanking.

As the casualties mount, 5 of the imperial ships built in this universe were destroyed in hit and run tactics, as they simply weren't built from the same materials as their original counterparts, namely the techpriests had to use a special alloy similar to steel that was known to them, but far stronger than steel, and likewise far weaker than adamantium, concentrated fire from the quarian ships would cause these ships to overload their void shields and be open to thanix canons that had a hard time piercing the hulls as its heat absorption of this alloy was exceptional, but uncountable thanix canons firing in repetition could cause critical damage and destroy the imperial novum vessels if they could keep the pressure strong enough.

Still the Imperial vessels were lost, but not before causing immense damage and destruction on the enemy side, for the quarian vessels could not respond adequately on imperial armaments and tactics.

And so the first portion of the Quarian fleet began its transfer to the Aurelian System, armed and ready.

The transit was fast and the strongest ships of the Quarian Armada passed through, the fleet was now separated. As the tali's vessels escaped back into the system they came from.

Supreme admiral wasted no time in acquiring his target, the planet Aurelian Prime, was in his sights, and the preliminary scans show it as a hub of huge activity, noticing scant Asari architecture from long lenses telescope he wondered if they were his enemies, but also saw constructions not made by the gentle Asari.

His scopes showed habitable planet, but already inhabited by unknown quary. He stopped to think about what to do, the message was semi truth, the planet was there, but was already inhabited.

As he was thinking there was an incident, his left flank reported a massive asteroid approaching at the fleet. He responded carelessly to just destroy it before it approached the fleet.

They wouldn't have the chance to do that, as the main imperial fleet sprang and attacked, hiding in the nearby Relay asteroid field, and engaged the Quarian main fleet, at the same time on the other side of the relay the smaller imperial armada attacked the less protected civilian fleet remnants, and caused horrible destruction as Quarian escorts sought to combat this new turn of events.

Admiral Arahi took personal charge of the Pride of Rannoch and engaged one of the imperial ships, custom made dark energy lances sang across the void shields of the human vessels, as the sanctified port side batteries fired their lethal bullets against the foul xenos swarm and impacted on their titanium hulls.

Far outnumbered, the imperial vessels could only expose themselves so much before their void shields reached critical mass, using long range lance batteries to pierce against the weak shields of the quarian fleet.

But the numerical superiority of the migrant conquerers began to slowly expend from the relay as near 15 000 ships began to push forward, the imperials slowly retreating towards the orbit of Aurelian Prime, and its land based anti-space canons.

It would seem the quarians would win, as one by one, the imperial ships lost their void shields and were damaged by the various weaponry of the migrant fleet, only their tough adamantium hulls holding them together along with their zealous crew chanting many litanies of fury as they fought and died inside their burning compartments, firing just one more round at the enemy before burning alive.

Techpriests worked overtime in worst exposures to space and its radiation to patch their ships just a bit more so they could continue on fighting. The space marines launched sporadic boarding actions onto biggest enemy ships in order to destroy them from within, the clustered nature of the fleet meant that some bold and quite foolish marines could jump with their packs from one ship to another and breach inside, while successful it took a toll on the marine numbers as anti-rocket gun placements on frigates and destroyes of the migrant fleet shot at them, killing some of them before they could reach them.

They attempted to board "Pride of Rannoch"but were prevented by its design and sheer cluster of smaller vessels around it protecting their flagship. So the marines concentrated on other bigger vessels around it.

But boarding actions proved successful as they rigged some of the quarian ships to explode and destroy smaller vessels around them, Quarians putting weak resistance as their biology just couldn't keep with the transhuman adeptus astartes.

Casulties on both sides mounted, as the flagship of the white eagles "Vengance of Dushan" mauled smaller and medium ships alike with its huge canons and lance batteries accompanied by the only two other battleships in the imperial fleet.

But still, the quarians pushed forwards and destroyed vessels of imperium, through sheer overwhelming nonstop firepower pounding at them.

And just in that time, the Asteroid came close to the unwary Quarian fleet, its orbit turning and showing anti-ship installations, missile pods, and deep hangars filled with imperial pilots that swarmed into the left flank of the Quarian fleet before the xenos could even know what happened.

Missiles fired and blasted upon the quarians destroying them with megatons of nuclear firepower. As the bombers dropped thousands of bombs onto them.

Quarian casualties numbered in hundreds of thousands at this point, while the imperial ones went into dozens of thousands. Both sides were becoming exhausted from fighting, but neither willing to relent, many hundreds of ships were lost on the Quarian side, irreversibly damaging their firepower ability.

Some admirals suggested retreating through the relay and regrouping with the endangered part of the fleet that is also suffering casualties.

The imperial captains and commanders saw that many of the xenos ship were ill equipped for fighting, more of less they looked like living ships, designed to house people.

They considered the xenos desperate and stupid to wage war like this, but even their numbers depleted as they lost nearly 40% of their ships, mostly newer smaller ones built in this universe, as they had steel mixture and other alloy chassis that could be destroyed by the enemy, the sturdy and strong adamantium ships from the original universe held firm as the three battleships caused genocidal damage on the quarian vessels, their void shields holding strong even as they were hit by thousands upon thousands of various armaments of the Quarians, the sheer scale of these prides of humanity could not be overcome by the bite of a flea. Portside batteries and its crew chewed the smaller quarian vessels as if they were nothing, only problem was they were running out of ammunition, as the scope of the enemy was to much. still the crew fought, the barrels of the battleships were glowing blue from energy overuse, and had to cool down from time to time, lest they risk permanent damage, allowing quarians to take the initiative.

Only one cruiser from the original universe was lost to critical engine overload, namely "Apparatus of Glory", built during the great crusade, this 2.5km long vessel saw many a battle in its time, its weapon batteries were reaching the melting point as it struggled to prevent hundreds of quarian vessels from overwhelming the right flank, his compatriots destroyed one by one as their older brother from original universe still held the flank. It was at this point that admiral Zaal'Koris vas Tutatis, formerly Vas Qwib-Qwib, took his detachment of vessels, some 1300 of of them and overcharging the weapons concentrated fire on the sole defender of the right flank, even as thousands of thanix canons and various quarian custom weapons slammed against the adamantium hull, the Apparatus of Glory charged, its void shields collapsed from the sheer firepower, but its adamantium hull , blessed thrice in the name of Omnissiah and the Emperor held firm and defiantly refused to give in, even as it stuffered catastrophical damage, it fired everything at the enemy closing the distance, its engines reached critical point, but it still sped on.

On the bridge, there was fire, as the systems collapsed one by one, as its crew attempted to hold everything together only the Admiral himself was calm, Pontius Pilates gazed through the glow of fire and thanix batteries at the enemy, still calm, he reflected on his career, from collegia to this day, and he stood up, walked towards the command console even as the bridge was collapsing around him, and decided that to die in the Emperors' name is to die happy, and with that, he knew he lived his life as he should, dedicated to the mankinds glory.

He engaged the vox coms to the semi dead ship, and spoke to its crew. "I have led you through centuries of war, and now our duty is coming to a close, but i would ask one more thing from you, for i know you are all good men" gun servitors and other crew members listened to his words even as they snuffed out fires in the deck compartments and loaded the gun batteries, the techpriests cooling the main engine which was shaking from near critical overload, praying and chanting the litanies of Omnnisiah to calm the engine and soothe the hurt machine spirit of the vessel.

" we are standing as the final messengers of humanity in this damned universe, and it is our duty to defend this flank, should we fail, we have failed not only The Emperor, but our entire species, and damned them to servitude under the xenos." There was an explosion inside the hold and one of the batteries went up in flames, the two crew members held each other, were they lovers, it would never be known, the girl wept tears as she was held by a man, who engaged the burning canon one more time and fired at the enemy, before another barrage of thanix canons vaporized them, they have died smiling together.

"It was my honor fighting with you, and i would never have asked it any other way than to stand with the finest humanity has to offer in defense of our God and our People. Now, let us show that even the dying lion can bite one more time and rip the throat out of the enemy." Saying this he engaged the engines and their dying power. "Ramming speed!" he yelled, as the ship engines increased their power and sped against the enemy, they have caught on fire, the ship was doomed.

He slowly returned to his seat, half of the bridge dead, he sat and gazed as the ship reached the swarm of quarians, and impacted the main vessel smashing it aside, Zaal'Koris could only helplessly watch as the burning ship impacted his own, crushing it under its might and ripping open his command center, the vacum dragged him out, his suit broken and open he died from suffocation.

Entering the swarm, Pontius Pilates closed his eyes, and realized, it was all good. he was at peace for the first time in centuries.

The ship Exploded, and the explosion engulfed many a ships in the swarm, for how can a man die better, than facing fearful odds,for the ashes of his fathers,and the temples of his God.

Then the good news came, the second wave of the quarian ships began retreating towards the relay, following the civilian fleet led by Tali, hunted all the way by the imperial ships . some 18000 ships were escaping, the civilian ships in the second wave lost over 10000 vessels as they were ill prepared and far outgunned by the imperial vessels that launched everything at them

The first wave ships were stuck with over 12000 ships, while losing some 5000 from that number. Still they had the advantage and Admiral Arahi'ler of the Heimat decided to win at all costs, even if it costs him everything.

Battle came to a crawl, and were moved close to the Aurelian Prime, far from the relay as the conflict lasted for few days now

Both fleets were now damaged, running out of ammo, or were simply destroyed. And thus the trap was sprung

The second imperial fleet chasing the other half of the Quarians came under attack, they send messages of a new fleet entering the system, numbering some 400 dedicated warship.

Astropaths exchanged messages, and requested to know if the quarians had reinforcements on the other side.

The answer was negative.

The new enemy engaged both the imperials and the quarians, and the fleet is forced to retreat and circle around, jumping to closest system and using the impulse drives to arrive at Aurelian System, which will take days at best.

And from the Aurelian Relay came 400 new ships, namely Batarian ones, led by Rakoshi, who waited in the nearby system for the right moment to engage both the imperials and the quarians that happened to be in the same system.

The "Atlas"Asteroid was first in their way, it fired its remnant weaponry on the newly arrived enemy, destroying several ships, as its bombers damaged batarian battleships, who were 1km in scale due to the citadel laws preventing the building of bigger ships. Swarms of batarian fighters came from the ship carriers and engaged the imperial pilots, the battle fought around the asteroid that used everything it had before being torn asunder by the Batarian vessels.

Now the Batarians approached the damaged fleets of Quarians and Imperials

The confusion in the leadership of Humans and Quarians was obvious, as some ships ceased to fight amongst each other and turn to meet the new foe.

Batarian fleet, rested and well-armed cut through the quarians like knife through butter, as imperials were forced to flee in the orbit of Aurelian in between the planet and its moon, where they would put their last stand, they slowly retreated all the while attempting to hold of the batarians as much as possible, their ship casualties reached 60% now.

The Quarian fleet broke, much to the dismay and shouting by its Admiral, some attempted to flee towards the relay but were destroyed by the batarians, the rest who were under the direct command of the Supreme Admiral of the Quarians, retreated at the edges of the system, some 5000 of them, as the rest were scattered or destroyed, to regroup and plan their escape.

Now the Batarians could concentrate on the Imperials, they hounded them near Aurelian system, but at that moment, the Relay flared to life yet again.

From it, over 2000 ships appeared.

Batarian war vessels, coated in government colors. Rakoshi was confused and before he could hail them, he received a hail from the newly arrived fleet.

"Hello brother" the main screen in the batarian battleship came to life, it was the Premier Korashi himself.

"Korashi? What the hell are you doing here, what is this?!"Rakoshi screamed

"oh come now, did you seriously thought I was going to trust a lowely pirate such as yourself? I have come personally to take this system and its technology, with it, the Batarian hegemony would rain supreme over the galaxy, your sacrifice is a small price to pay for that. "

"You mean you betrayed me? You filthy dog, I will see you dead for this, you will have to pass my men to get me, and I will rip out your heart and eat it" Rakoshi was mad with rage

"Temper younger brother, did you seriously thought you were ever in control? "

For a moment Rakoshi was dumbstruck , he could only ask "What do you mean? I am in charge! "

"Do you feel in charge? "he simply said and the guards came and grab hold of Rakoshi. "Your men…so easy to buy. Take him away and put him in lockup, I will deal with him later. "

Rakoshi was trashing around while being dragged by 4 batarian guards. "You dog, I will kill you, I will kill you! I will gouge your eyes, I will.." a single hit to the head knocked him unconscious

"Thank you."Korashi said. "Now regroup at the rally point. "

The first batarian fleet stopped pursuing the imperial one and began falling back to the relay, regrouping with the main batarian force of military vessels and troop transports.

The imperial fleet around Aurelian Prime had to fall back and abandon the planet, after much talk among the commanders, they decided to leave the planet and move in the secret hiding spot in the solar system, they needed to repair and restock ammo, and hidden caches around the system will serve just for that. They didn't have to worry, as batarian impulse drives were slower then theirs, now its up to the planetary defenders to last long enough in order to be relieved.

The Astartes deployed over half of the space marines on their flagship onto the planet; they would prove invaluable in the upcoming invasion.

The Planet is left on its own, with its few defensive satellites and installations it was now open.

Over 2000 batarian ships were now moving towards the planet, it satellites and defensive installations have shown resistance, but were swept away by the overwhelming batarian firepower.

Planetary anti-space canons came to life and opened fire, at the same time from the moon of Aurelian prime, rocket barrages scared its surface as the nuclear and other warheads sped towards the batarian fleets destroying some ships but without causing significant damage, this was no migrant fleet with its civilian ships, this was a war host of the batarians, and they have come to win.

As the batarian bombardment occurred and began destroying the installation of both the moon and Aurelian prime, they deployed thousands upon thousands of troop transports and other carriers, their numbers darkened the skies of this Fortress world, the space battle for Aurelian System ended inconclusively.

The Ground war for Aurelian Prime has just begun.


	11. Chapter 10: The Great War

Chapter 10: The Great War

The skies burnt, and the heavens wept, for a mighty host of xenos descended upon the flock of the Emperor.

They came in uncountable millions, for the batarian war fleet brought massive troop transports with them carrying conscripts from all corners of the Empire, thinking the sheer numbers would overwhelm their enemies and bring glory to the Hegemony, and potentially, the tech from their enemies will allow them to exact the vengeance on the citadel races that have wronged them so.

The batarian war fleet orbited the planet, their canons loaded and various gun serfs pointed them at the biggest object on the planet, the Aurelian Prime City, at this point the city had almost none of the Asari architecture on it, wholly replaced by the Imperial one, gun placements and buildings were constructed with killing zones set in such a way that any invading force would take substantial casualties before taking a single building, the planet now numbered around 9.8 million citizens, 8 million being humans, the rest were xenos servitors who were used in construction, and ever since the conquest of Aurelian did they constructed, fear and paranoia gripped the imperium and fear of xenos retaliation forced the leadership to construct defenses in every part of the world. For every meter of the planet, the batarians would pay the toll in blood.

The Imperium was no stranger to war, millennia upon millennia of conflict has made them into proficient fighters; their combat prowess was amplified by sheer rage of the defenders who were foaming at the mouth of the audacity of the xenos to come to their home in search for blood.

Aurelian Prime City had a strong Void Shield reactor beneath it, and numerous anti-space batteries were built within that shield, any fleet attempting to bombard the city would take constant casualties so long as the shield held, and it was designed to hold.

Its population was mostly made by the newly liberated and humans that have come to this planet in order to escape the oppressive Alliance who sought to eradicate any wrong thinking ideas, that humanity, and not xeno should rule this galaxy. They were trained by the soldiers from the original imperial fleet and the Space marines who taught them how to fight better than any alliance drill instructor ever could.

Aurelian prime contained 60% of the entire troop contingent present on the original fleet, with majority of the vehicles and titans, also present were numerous skitarii as well as chapter master Tesla himself. Field Marshall Romuluss was named the ground leader with other Marshalls and subordinates to coordinate the defense.

Among the defenders were the clone borne soldiers of this universe called "The Soulless ones", they were born out of the cold wombs of the mothers that didn't love them, the silica was their only warmth, and the cold gaze of the techpriests their only consolation. It was much argued how they should be dressed and equipped, the debate led them to simple conclusion, they were born to wage war, and so they were aptly named "Death Korps of Krieg" according to their original counterparts in the normal universe. Their baptism will come on this planet.

Countless zealots and faithful were also present on the planet, mostly from the rebellious planets; the Anhur faithful were not able to come, as the Amun System was blockaded by the coalition fleet meant for containing the xenocide that was occurring on the planet. The coalition was unwilling to send ground troops yet, much to the anger of the batarian population and its government.

This led to the batarians nearly declaring war on the council space, but due to fear from the militaristic Turian Hierarchy, they remained silent.

And now the Batarians came in search for a way to make their vengeance on the cosmos, and they sought to find it here in the forgotten corners of the galaxy.

The Batarian fleet took position directly above the Aurelian Prime City, the order was for the destruction of the fortification, they were under strict orders to avoid too much collateral damage to the city and its surrounding as they would need technology from the ruins, and not ashes.

They attempted to soften the opposition by bombing the infrastructure, the first round fired didn't pierce the void shield, as didn't the last one. The void shield flickered defiantly with each round hitting it, and the cheerful population issued shouts of challenge and curses at the xenos who thought they would be defeated so easily. The imperial anti space batteries were constantly spewing fiery death onto the batarian fleet even as the batarian transports were getting into position. Deployed, the batarian fleet moved itself out of the way of the anti-space batteries that were too well-defended for the fleet to destroy, they would have to be content with the local space support, allowing the Imperials to regroup at the capital city should it be required.

For the Imperium wasn't some petty politician to be killed from afar, if they wanted them dead, they would have to come and take their lives personally.

So the batarians began deploying their forces, thousands upon thousands of troop vessels began their descent on the least defended part of the sole continent of Aurelian Prime.

The south would soon be swarmed by four eyed xenos. Even as they descended on the planet, various fighter aircraft of the imperium assailed the drop ships and troop carriers, causing great damage even as the batarians attempted to ensure air superiority. For the imperial pilots were veterans of many battles, and they terrified the confident batarians, for even when an aircraft of the imperium was damaged beyond salvation, it sought to ram the nearby ship and make its death more meaningful. Even with high numerical superiority of the batarian aircraft, the imperium caused catastrophic damage and destruction.

The story of Emmilius Tartario was one of heroism and defiance, piloting a brightly red aircraft, he led his 6 airplane unit in defense of Manita city ,home to 20000 people, even as the enemy came and attempted to bomb it, his unit rose from the fields and brought the batarian pilots down and they fled, losing 3 of their own, who were swiftly replaced by the new imperial reinforcements.

When the next wave of batarian planes came, once again his unit rose, 6 of them, they defeated the enemy, losing 4 this time that were swiftly replaced. Emmilius was named " Red Baron" for his success.

As the batarians came in wave after wave, and saw 6 planes led by a red aircraft each time they did so ,the survivors of the original attacks began fleeing as they thought the imperials immortal, for, the red aircraft led the dead in defense of the living again and again.

On one of the most aggressive batarian aircraft attacks, Emmilius's aircraft was damaged by the batarian pilots,with his last breath, plane damaged and burning, Emmilius Tartario rammed the last of the batarian planes destroying it, and the enemy once more fled. His sacrifice saving Manita for the last time.

From that point on, the imperium would coat the leader aircraft of this sector in bright red colors, this spread the story amongst the batarians that some vengeful spirit was guarding the humans, and they were very reluctant to engage the imperial pilots, fearing that the Red Baron would take them to the underworld should they die by his weapons.

Some 60 million batarians would land on the southern part of the continent, they would set the 3000 kilometer long front and would have to advance some 4470 kilometers north in order to reach Aurelian Prime City. the planet had a singular continent much akin to Pangea, going from south to north, it was 8800km long, and it was 3000 km in width at its longest. For each kilometer or this continent the total war will now be waged.

They deployed vehicles and other support equipment, establishing the local air superiority and various anti air missile systems, for the imperium took advantage of the carelessness of the southern isolated part of the deployment zone, in which near 300 000 batarians were nuked by the local commander of the imperium who sought to deny its position to the enemy as they were swarming his position.

This was the price of Aurelian, an ocean of blood to be paid before it switched hands.

The batarians rallied and would carry with their assault procedures, for the first push north, millions of batarians rallied, and under the command of their leaders advancing northwards, soon met the first line of defense.

The Imperium built trenches and bunkers the length of the continent, and as the batarians approached, they were shelled constantly by basilisk canons that were kept as secret as best as they could be until the batarian aiforce depleted itself on the local anti-air and the heroic pilots of the imperium itself. Advance itself was met with heavy stubbers and lasgun volleys of the entrenched populace, for even the women held weapons in this time, servitors were utilized in the cities churning ammunition day and night, allowing the humans to defend their homes and children to the last man and woman.

Batarians were so confident in their own numbers that one of the supreme Marshalls of the batarian hegemony decided the full blown mass assault would crack the will of the imperial defenders.

Waiting for the morning the war horn of the batarians was sounded and from the south, a veritable swarm of 8 to 13 million conscripts and soldiers of the batarian warmachine rushed against the imperials to the sound of fanfares and inspiring music, some 1800 kilometers long offensive just began.

The music and the fanfares were drowned in the sound of war soon thereafter.

Trench defenders shot until the lasguns melted and until autoguns jammed, the kill zones saw batarians dying in their thousands without stopping, crawling over their own corpses, the sky was red and choked with smoke and weapon gases, for the batarians brought countless illegal weapons seeking to use biological warfare and other means of conquest, still to a limited degree due to limits imposed by their leadership.

Virus attack by the Batarians failed, as the anti Exterminatus measures proved useful in suspending any such attempts, various vents opened on the continent, and sucked the gas as it spread, dumping it straight into planets core. Aurelian will not be poisoned so cowardly. Such an act would inspire the defenders to commit some of the worst atrocities the galaxy saw, for their enemies do not deserve any respect.

Batarian tanks were light, built similar to the MAKO designs, their tank designs ranged from light tanks designed to destroy infantry, and medium tanks, designed to engage other medium tanks and light tanks, there were some tanks that could be dubbed as heavy tanks in the batarian lines, but only difference is the size from their medium cousins and a small increase in caliber size. Times of peace in the galaxy have dulled the war senses of the citadel races, but the Imperium, War was their mother, and they suckled on the breast of their mother until they have grown strong, far exciding the expectations their mother has set for them.

On the plains of Veritus, a show of force commenced, for the Batarians saw this war as won, just a matter of months in fact, for how could anyone oppose near 60 million soldiers with tank and air support.

A full tank assault occurred, 24 000 batarian tanks organized in a nice formation and advanced forwards at the Imperial positions. Behind them tagged 3 million of the batarian infantry, meant for taking the positions the tanks would clear for them.

Much to their surprise the imperium on the other side decided not to wait for them to come.

The Human tanks installed a vox equipment on their tanks that chanted hymns and war prayers in latin so strongly the ground shook from the sound equally as from the tanks threads.

The imperium was angry, and it resented the nascent xeno children encroaching on its soil, they decided the enemy has polluted the ground for far too long.

The great number of leman russes assembled and stormed against the enemies, their drivers roaring their engines as loud as they could, for the batarian tanks were silent, packing latest mass effect drives that made their tanks silent and smooth in their approach, a total opposite of their Imperial enemy whose engines were as loud as the defying cries of war of their own drivers.

The leman russ tanks opened fire, its numerous variants all having a say in the conflict that just occurred, and the batarian tanks found more than a match for their armada, as the leman russ tanks took heavy toll on them.

They have returned the fire, but the small caliber of the weapons on the batarian light tanks reflected from the thick leman russ hulls, only scant few heavy and medium tanks killing few leman russes with a lucky shot .Batarians, driven by their tank commanders still advanced onwards even as they took casualties, Eager to use their numerical superiority to destroy their enemy.

The imperial tanks shot and rarely missed, decades of war made their drivers into a killing machines akin to the vehicles they drove. The dedicated and specialized leman russes designed to destroy tanks were the most precise, for they aimed at the commander tanks of the enemy, a single shot enough to cause a critical explosion in the batarian medium and light tanks.

Plasma russes melted their light tank enemies, whom they dwarfed nearly two to three times in size, the crew inside screaming in agony as the alloy melted and fused with their flesh from hot plasma eating through the metal.

The distance was closed even as the batarians lost countless tanks, while the imperium deflected most of the shots directed at them, still losing a few of the valuable machines of war. Batarians could afford to lose tanks in the conflict, they could always bring more, the imperium had to make them last.

Then the ground trembled, and the crews of the tanks began chanting and shouting, and leman russes, almost as in utmost respect, moved aside, and from the ranks of the imperium stormed the gods of tank warfare.

The Baneblades.

Their numbers were not more than 20, but their impact was equal to 1000 of their counterparts.

Batarians could look only in horror as the 7 meter tall tanks emerged from the ranks of the Imperial line.

Then there was a vox shout from the blue coated baneblade leading the charge.

" All Guardsmen, Follow me to glory!"

Then they opened fire from 11 barrels of hell. And the Imperial infantry, some 130.000 imperial guardsmen surged onwards following the advance of the tanks.

And the batarian line cracked like a shell of an egg impacted by the hammer with full force.

Any attempt to pierce the baneblade armour was laughable, for the batarian tanks simply couldn't pierce the front armour of the metal colossus.

Those brave or outright stupid, refused to pull back, seeking to close the distance with their tanks, they were promptly rewarded as baneblades crushed them under their threads like ants.

The destruction was catastrophical, the batarians couldn't organize the retreat, and tanks in their formations would crush into one another in their panicked retreat causing a general stall. Some of the batarian tank crews simply abandoned their vehicles and began fleeing towards the assembled infantry that stopped their advance as they observed the ongoing battle.

The Guardsmen wasted no time and had closed the distance, the batarian tanks not outright destroyed by the passing leman russes and baneblades were soon mined and destroyed by the imperial guard, flushing their crews out with incendiary granates. Batarian infantry supporting the tanks were hunted down by the leman russ side guns, and the ongoing rush of the guardsmen who used their bayonets to maul their fleeing adversary.

Soon from the destroyed column of the batarian tanks passed the baneblades followed by the leman russes, and opened fire on the infantry that was massing behind the now destroyed or fleeing batarian tanks.

It was no longer a battle, it was a hunt, as they were getting slaughtered by the imperial armada, the blood rage took over the imperial guard, as many simply lost their minds from the pure carnage, grasping their knives or bayonets, or simply just using their hands and seeking to engage their fleeing foes in close quarters, ripping them apart, the recordings taken by the batarians in that battle scared the high command, they saw human soldiers tearing their screaming soldiers apart as they struggled to survive, one in particular scene took the highlight, in which an imperial soldier guts two of the batarian soldiers with his knife, that shot him, bleeding he jumped on the third, using his teeth to rip the throat of a batarian soldier, before taking his knife and ripping the head off his body, he stood up, lifting the head that dripped blood, he shook violently as if in immense pain, the human soldier shouted something that chilled the batarian command to the core.

"B…" the soldier was shaking ever violently as he held the batarian head high.

"Blood…" he stumbled onwards as he began laughing harder and harder before just yelling from the top of his lungs causing his voice to die.

"Blood for the Blood God! Ha Ha Ha"

The sight was terrifying, then the soldier noticed the batarian soldier that recorded him, he gazed at him, eyes red and leaking blood, his open mouth smile horrifying as it seemed the man was insane, he then jumped on the crawling batarian that recorded it all with his helmet camera, the camera lost visual feed and only the sounds of bone crunching and impact of fists on the head of the batarian were heard, along with his screams and a maniac laughter. Then all was silence.

It was something that made several of the officers considering an outright planetary retreat. But not enough to voice their concerns openly.

And on the battlefield, the camera didn't show what happened next, as commissar approached the scene in which the soldier was done with killing, he stood up, removed his chest armour, grasping the burning piece of metal from the ground, and holding it by the cool side, he began carving a symbol on his chest, a symbol resembling the eight pointed star.

The commissar wasted no time and pointed the bolter pistol at the soldier. Who turned at him and with the eyes of pure rage shouted before charging " Skulls for the Skull throne!"

his mad charge was stopped by the flight of the bullet opening the skull and splattering the ground with his brain.

The Commisar approached the corpse, and was concerned to say the least, The madness could infect them here as well. Was this a single isolated case, a man that lost a faith in the Emperor beforehand, giving into the ruinous powers in the original universe, and the sickness claiming him only now? or something far worse, something that can happen in the thick of battle, and claim more of the soldiers of the imperium. He reported this to the local command, but not before using the flame thrower of a dead guardsman nearby to burn the corpse to ashes, lest it infects someone else with its putrid existence, before continuing onwards with the rushing soldiers.

In the original universe, a giant God of War on his throne simply smiled as it felt the flow of blood.

The imperials kept chasing the fleeing batarians, slaughtering them all the way on their retreat towards the south, they fled into the thick forests of Southern Continent, ensured of their safety thanks to the dense foliage.

They would know the error of their ways as the first baneblade crushed the trees aside as if nothing and kept going into the forest.

The counter offensive stalled then, as the forest kept catching on fire due to weapon discharge, and the numerical superiority of the batarians could be used much more effectively. The Imperial soldiers, taking casualties as they progressed deeper into the forest and receiving information that new reinforcements of the batarians were on their way, decided to retreat towards the safe zone, behind the plains that saw the first major defeat of the batarian land invasion force.

The statistics would later show that the batarians lost 4.6 million soldiers as well as 90% of the first wave tanks. The imperium lost negligible 48.346 soldiers, less than 200 leman russes, and none of the baneblades that carried the victory of that day.

From that day onwards, the batarians would utilize more and more extreme weaponry in order to win the war, much to the disapproval of their scientists.

The frontline would see new horrors appear soon, the batarians and the imperials not holding anything back.

Tactical nukes were used freely; polluting the land and the air, such things did not hinder the Death Korps of Krieg, who held their trenches firmly, their section of the defense never giving a single meter, even as the mass assaults of the batarians attempted to take their positions.

The gas, the heat, the radiation, the Kriegers held, as the plains on the eastern front line were secured for the moment, so too was the western part of the continent, held by the combined 800 000 imperials, of whom 80 000 were kriegers, at the end of the long war, only they would hold the line, only they would defend the radioactive scorched land the western part of the continent would become.

In the trenches of the western wastelands, the kriegers cared little for the tumor inducing radiation, they would stand and watch over their positions even as the cancer and various tumors made them blind and die in pain, same was for the batarians whom kept attacking, even as the western wastelands were engulfed in an artificially induced climate disaster, the skies rained lightning and made communication near impossible, modern technology failed, as the electro magnetic disturbance from the various nuclear discharge and other atmospheric weapons made the western wasteland into a little more than a melee engagement.

The batarians charged, driven by their warlords, their attacks had to be calculated, for the wasteland had periodical Termo Storms, the air superheated to 300 degrees Celsius and carried various particles at insane speeds, and swept through the region, rendering flesh from the bone, the result of various experimental and other weapons on work. And still, the kriegers cared not for that.

Only that their positions never fall.

One such Krieger unit of 2000 soldiers saved their positions from one of the largest offensives known to the continent, the various batarians groupings, tanks and artillery meant to break through the wasteland, the kriegers stood and fought, along with the remnants of the normal Planetary Defense Forces.

The casualties were Catastrophical on both sides as the battlefield was on fire with the constant fire bombings of the batarians. Still the batarians pushed, numerical advantage working in their favour, the line was about to break, until the kriegers decided to launch a suicidal counter attack at the already flooding enemy.

The batarians were desperate in their attempt to overtake the main trench, for they have all but took it at that point, scant 300 meters keeping them away from the underground bunkers and shelters of the defenders erected to protect them from the Termo Storm event.

And still, this mad unit of humans were resistant to forbid them that, even as they were torn to shreds by the power armored batarians, 200 meters remained, and the skies grew red. The batarians knowing the termo storm was about to occur, they launched suicidal attacks in their attempt to take the bunkers, for they have sacrificed to much to fall back now, and allow the imperials to reinforce their position.

As the first of the hot winds started blowing through the ruined trenches, some of the batarians broke ranks and began a full rout, shot in the back by their furious leaders. The kriegers still stood, local PDF realizing this is where the future of the war lies joining them from the bunkers, even as they have reached safety.

The line was enforced with corpses and blood, and no matter how much the batarians clawed and shouted as they attempted to take it, it held in place.

The winds picked up speed and began superheating, causing light burns at first before the temperature increased, the humans cared little for the burning in their lungs, only that the line held.

It was too late for the batarian retreat, stuck in no man's land, they were burnt alive by the Termo Storm, same with their human enemies, who held the line and died standing.

When the storm passed and the soldiers emerged from their bunkers, they saw many guardsmen, chared, but still standing, almost as if still guarding their trenches, their uniform and flesh burnt, deceased, but standing and gazing at the front towards the enemy, even in death, they still served.

Reaching the very edge of the trench, 33 kriegers were piled on, burnt to unrecognizable mess, upon removing their corpses they have discovered a Imperium Novum flag, the sign of Aquila with the honorary logo of the Death Korps of Krieg in this universe, the most blessed artifact of the Emperor, the first flag to be given to them.

It was not burnt, the bodies of the kriegsmen piled on top of it kept it safe until the storm passed, their lives given in the preservation of honor and their beloved Imperium.

One of the PDF soldiers took the flag, and as the trenches were again filling with humans, lifted it upwards, the dawn on the horizon, he yelled

"For The Emperor!"

The entire trench, indeed, nay, even the entire planet responded in unison. "For the Emperor!"

They have held the line again, and will do so until the last man. They have prepared for a counter attack, the depleted batarians in the wastelands would prove no match for the zealous humans.

The Eastern Plains and the Western Wastelands were secured, under the great cost of human lives, they were held firmly and defiantly, the batarians deep into the continent have paved their conquest in red traces of blood, their own.

After months of fighting, some 17 to 23 million batarians were dead, at the cost of 3 million human lives. The war became the worst one Batarians ever waged in living and recorded memory.

Still, the biggest offensive was about to happen, as the flanks of the front proved to be too much, The batarian high command made plans and would use the combined 30 million soldiers and directly attack the main frontline with everything they got.

This main front was held by the 3 million humans, old, women, children even. The marine contingent, the leadership, the faithful from the human systems, they were now waiting for the deciding battle of the war. The center of the continent was combination of plains and cities, most of which were fortified and held by the defiant humans, whom the batarians had to take before reaching the the main front in the center of the continent.

They named this front Aurelian Indomitus, it was here where the humans would show the futility of the batarian invasion, they would break their teeth in and drive them off this planet, should that fail, they would take the planet into warp with them.

The main batarian offensive took the cities with heavy casualties, resulting in the death of 80 000 stubborn humans who refused to leave their homes to the encroaching xenos.

The main front was reached, and they massed for an all-out attack, supported by the artillery, the remnant airforce and many thousands of tanks, they have launched the biggest offensive yet.

The sun rose on the dust chocked planet of Aurelian Prime, and with it came the horrible things from the ends of the galaxy, the full blown offensive started, it is their last chance, it is their only chance.

Across most of the continent, the offensive began with incredible intensity, myriad of bombers sought to soften up the lines of the human defenders, from the airplains the sky was covered in batarian paratroopers, who were engaged by the human automated turret systems , landing all over the place didn't help the batarian invasion force, for they have fallen into a well-designed system, independent of one another, and such these paradrops turned into a killing zones as the batarians became encircled and besieged by the human defenders.

Millions upon millions of foot soldiers with various support equipment clashed at the imperial lines, the defence unrelenting, but the batarian numbers unending.

They reached the main lines and engaged the human defenders in melee when able. To the horror of the batarians, the humans didn't break their ranks and fled against the overwhelming odds, rather they stood and fought more ferociously.

As the dedicated melee units of the batarians, carrying an omni blade and packing an improved version of the shield capable of soaking some minor lasgun fire, they clashed against the guardsmen who were ill equipped for such a fight, causing much destruction against the guardsmen who used their bayonets against elite of the batarian society.

Only marines held their ground, chainswords rending the incoming batarian swarm with ease, but they kept swarming, the suicidal batarian charges increased, suicide bombers jumped into the trenches seeking to destroy and kill as much as they could be done, same was done with the humans who gladly jumped at the tanks and detonated their krak grenades.

It was a brawl, for casualties mounted on both sides, at some point the conscripts of the batarians broke through the battle line and reached an opening on the other side, the city of Aurelian Prime on the horizon. At this point the the invasion in this particular place stalled, for the imperium launched the faithful divisions, women and men, flagellants and priests, rushed wearing melee weapons and penintent engines against the enemy, using the symbolism of humanity, certain organ like artillery pieces were developed, high pitched chanting and music originated with each barrage, and the batarians learned to fear the extremely loud sound before the impact, it broke their nerves, for the organs emited the sound in latin "imperium" as they fired, and the shells caused the finishing sound as they neared impact "victrix". So do the imperial records say, and the batarians were unavailable to confirm the truth to this story.

So the countless faithful, supported by artillery and vehicles charged onto the batarian lines and used flame and sword to fight back, chanting the hymns to the Emperor, led by the zealous priests who fought even as they suffered mortal wounds, they pushed on regardless to the casualties and caused the breakthrough to fail, retaking the line and reestablishing it at a high cost in human lives.

It was at certain point that the entire line was nearly broke that the imperium decided to play its trump card, the tactical nuclear weapons used up by the both sides at this point in war, it would seem the overwhelming numbers of the batarians would prevail, it was this point that the entire central line after months of holding initiated the counter offensive, Operation Cadia, in honor of a besieged planet they sought to relieve in their universe, they have long thought of that planet when they arrived here, would it be able to withstand the incoming hordes of evil, would their presence assist the defenders to a meaningful degree? They knew, and joked even, that whatever happened in the 13th black crusade, the spirit of man would never break, and that the three were more chances of planet breaking first before the guard. Like Cadia, Aurelian Prime Stands! And will continue standing, proud. Defiant. And most importantly of all. HUMAN.

So combined human soldiers, remnants, civilians, marines, skitarii and other units,everything the humans could gather at this point, assembling the the armada of 1.350.000 people, from 3 million people, only they were combat able, some say, that over 300 000 more joined, the crippled, the wounded, the mauled, for they would not sit and silently drift into the night, or the xenos slavery, they would fight, they would never yield, they would never despair, and would never give heart, they all shouted, Heil Imperium! as they went gladly to their deaths.

Such was the psychic collective of these assembled souls that across the gulfs of space, of realities, in different worlds and universes and dark corners of the universes, that in one of their most beloved universes, a Man on his golden throne, wept a single tear from his decaying form, it trickled down his boney cheek, before fervently collected by one of the adepts in a giant room in a small gold coated class bottle, collected and named "Hope", for the Emperor wept only as he felt the death of his sons and daughters, and each of his tears through many millennia received their names, this one being the collective desire of humanity for victory and a time where their God would truly return to the them, and lead them to a bright future that now, only he truly knew.

Against the majority of the Batarian legions, these brave men and women now charged, suicidal to some, everything the batarians had was attempting to seal the breakthrough and counter offensive, and just like that, the trap was sprung, for so many batarians were in such small place that Imperium unleashed their true weapons.

The Titans were now marching, the entire legio titanica now marched, some 5 of the warlord titans were approaching the main lines, the single Imperator Titan being on Indomitus for the protection of that planet.

Aurelian Maximus Axom

Primogenitor Episcopalus Delendio

Constantinus Magnus Primus

Mithradates Seleucius Antiochus

Trajanicus Marco Aurelius

The Five God machines were seen approaching the lines, the batarians knew of those and the artillery of the batarians concentrated on the five god machines approaching, thousands of artillery pieces fired, their impacts doing little to the void shields of the titans. These were not mere tanks able to be destroyed with such a small barrage, the God machine required a God to equal it in the battlefield, and the batarians possessed no such weapon.

The high command kept these machines safe within the mega city void shield, knowing the batarians would use weapons of mass destruction on them given the chance, even if the titan can withstand the nuclear explosion, multiple ones would cause damage they could not afford, as the repairs on the titans required designated crews meant just for that, which they equally couldn't afford.

The men died and gave life only for the imperium to launch its best chance at victory, and now as the godlike machines approached within firing distance, all the sacrifices would prove to be worth it.

Near entirety of the tanks the batarians had were poised to strike against the titans, but they could not concentrate as the elite tank divisions that fought on the eastern plains have redirected most of its units here, now hundreds of lemans led by 15 baneblades were storming against the tens of thousands of batarian tanks.

The battle soon turned into a slaughter, disheartened from years of battle, the batarians were not willing to put much of a fight, much to the anger of their commanders. Under tremendous pressure, tired and weary they began a full blown rout, scared by the enemy they never knew would be so mad in their desires to fight, the united human army began their first real offensive after 4 years of constant fighting on Aurelian.

It was reported that there were orders issued to the Imperial Guard to ease on their assault as the tank crews had a hard time following them, such was their desire to liberate their planet that most refused to be hospitalized and miss the liberation of Aurelian Prime.

The main front was being pushed backwards, after being just scant 130km from Aurelian Prime city, the batarians would now be driven backwards.

The line was constantly driven backwards as no true organized resistance from the batarians could be organized;

the eastern plains saw the renewed tank offensive, tanks reentering the same forest they had to retreat from 3 years ago passing the tank graveyard on the Plain of Iron where near 22000 batarian tanks littered the field.

They fought through minor batarian resistance in the woods, who stalked the imperial tanks and destroyed them through various mines and deceitful attacks from behind, that didn't stop the imperial assault and eventually they were slaughtered to a xeno, their forces depleted by the constant mass assaults committed by the overzealous and glory searching generals.

Now they have reached the mountains of Tirmion, past the eastern plains, inadequate for a tank assault, the infantry continued onwards and the tanks redirected to the main frontline in the center.

On the Western Wastelands the remaining kriegers and soldiers noticed the lack of batarian assaults they were used to, the gas attacks stopped and the tactical nukes ceased, guarding the extremely warm trenches almost made them wish for a nuclear winter.

Then they commenced a counter offensive under the signal from the command, some 140 000 soldiers attacked, and much to their surprise the resistance was low or none existent in that area. It would appear that mass assaults and the last Termo Storm months ago that destroyed most of their invasion force, made the soldiers revolt, a power struggle occurred and rendered the batarians on the western incapable of launching any sizable offensives without further reinforcements, which was unlikely as no commander had desires to relocate his men to the radioactive zones.

The straggles and deserters were swept away quickly, taking the bunkers with various warlords, the imperium has retaken the entirety of the Western Wasteland, emerging outside the borders of the Termo zone, they had seen the sky blue for the first time in years, such was the sight of the blue sky that many soldiers fell to their knees, wept tears of joy and prayed to the emperor.

But not the Kriegers, they had their mission, and as the others wept and prayed, they marched on, the war was still not won, and from their numbers of 200 000 after numerous cloning cycles, they had fell to mere 30 000 soldiers, who marched on, to glorious death.

Kilometer after kilometer the imperium regained ther land and the batarians fell back faster and faster losing equipment in the process. And soon they were surrounded in the southern part of the continent prepared to make their last stand. The batarian marshalls issued panicked hails to the ships to pick them up.

But the Batarian ships had the problems of their own, new fleet was entering the system, and they would engage them firstly before initiating any sort of rescue mission. They would never come back for the stranded troops due to the events about to happen in space.

The author of this story took a moment to rest as he recalled the events that happened in that dreadful war that was but first of many.

His mechanical eyes gazed at the ink bottle, dipping the pen writing his words on the yellow paper to add his soul to the history of the struggle, he continued.

"As my processors overload writing this document of the Imperial expedition in this heretical universe, I would describe the story that would occur in space, but my attentions now lay on the ground war, and its conclusion, let it be known the that no human died in vain, for they were all heroes in the Emperors eyes. Praise be to him now and always"

The Imperial army surrounded the batarians now from the north, prepared for a final push and xenocidal extermination, dozens of peace requests came from the batarian side, outright ignored, as the batarian army was gripped with fear and rightfully so, for their fleet was busy elsewhere in the system. Nobody was coming for them, except an angry mob of humans bent on revenge.

After the offensive was renewed, the human army now numbering 2 million crashed against the remaining 7 million batarians, both sides exhausted, the defensive line cracked after 2 months and what occurred next could be described as outright slaughter of the batarians who were surrendering in vain.

After a month, the planet was finally silent and the guns died down, for no batarian lived on it to fight back.

In the aftermath of the war, lasting 5 years and 6 months, 52.6 million batarians were dead from wounds, radiation, and various other natural and unnatural ways, no prisoners were taken, the imperium not keen on feeding their invaders, they were shot and the burnt in a massive incendiary pits, the promethium making quick work of the bodies, the southern part of the continent was coated in a thick black ash cloud that permeated for a month in the skies, blocking the sun. the rest were on board of the troop transports in orbit getting medical attention, they were the lucky ones. On the other side 5.24 million humans lost their lives in defense of their planet, more than half of the total human population on Aurelian Prime and 16% of entire human population of Imperium novum.

Marines lost some 178 members fighting the ground war and 110 fighting in the space. Their numbers will take time replenishing, but they were honored to have fought in protection of the Emperors folk as suits the Humanity's Finest.

Batarian tech would be melted soon and used to make new weapons for humanity, resources were valuable in this universe and they would have to use anything they could.

The human soldiers cheered and celebrated, the astartes and the kriegers still vigilant, they looked to the stars and saw them burning once more

The new space battle for Aurelian System would happen. For the batarians would hold nothing back and would rather destroy the planet then let it be a humiliating stain on their history should they win.

The Aurelian Prime stood, proud, defiant.

Human.

And would remain so, so long as its defenders drew breath.


	12. Chapter 11: The Rising Imperium

Chapter 11 : The Imperium Rising

"Blessed be the machine spirit for giving my hand a steady grip as I retell the stories of the Universal Crusade, blessing of the Emperor upon those who read it and understand that what we did was necessary for the preservation of humankind.

It is why I will continue telling these tales, for I was there at the beginning, and I am here now, at the end at the precipice of our destiny.

There were many individual tales upon Aurelian Prime and its land war, so much that I would spend months writing about them."

The author looks behind him as if searching for something or someone then pushes his pen into an ink bottle and continues writing

"my mind now turns to the space battle that occurred during the Aurelian Great War, as it will be a deciding moment in the batarian-imperial war.

The Imperium was never at their weakest as they were then…or now. But my mind wanders; I will continue the tales and events of the space conflicts that happened during the times of calamity. my desire to speak about individual events will take precedence, for some are highly deserving of their mentioning. And so by the Emperor, let their tales be known…"

5 years and 6 months before the land war victory on the Aurelian Prime.

It was chaos on the imperial ships, losing many vessels while fighting a huge xenos force was hard enough, but then the xenos received 2000 more reinforcements, different ship designs, but they were tough enough, and so the imperials had to retreat.

The imperial ships were faster, and so they retreated into hidden places amongst the asteroids, and other vantage points unknown to the enemy in order to repair and refit in preparation of a new conflict.

But the planet was now under horrible danger, and so there was a huge debate amongst the admirals.

On the bridge of the " Vengeance of Dushan" of the space marine chapter White Eagles, various admirals and their holograms flickered into existence, only the battle brother Tarquin stood in the flesh waiting for the first admiral to speak, and he did.

"We have never assumed the xenos would come together so fast and in such great numbers" spoke Admiral Marko of the Amicus, as if retelling the story "were our ships not so advanced compared to the primitive vessels of the xenos, we would have been destroyed, only our courage and the Emperor's blessing allowed us to retreat without suffering worse casualties. Our 110 fleet is now reduced to 55 vessels, many of whom are badly damaged, our brothers now on the other side have to circle around in order to reach the system, all in all we have 90 combat vessels against the 2000 dedicated war ships of the xenos host, and worst yet, thousands more remain from the other xenos faction, now hiding all over the system. Situation is dire brothers, let us speak of our options, who will have the next word?"

"I will" his hand raised, admiral Megnio of the Tanutuva spoke, other admirals silently observing his desire to speak.

"Situation, while critical, might have a good event occurring." He said. "The new xenos war host engaged the previous one in battle, both causing each other great damage, we should assume the xenos are not united in this mission, for we consider they might all be after us individually. Were we to engage them, we should seek to antagonize both our foes against each other, let them drain their power so we can have easier time slaughtering them." He finished

Other admirals verbally and non-verbally agreeing.

"But what of the Aurelian?" Admiral Mannerheim of the Finska spoke. " The planet is now abandoned, we risk the xenos fleet bombing the planet into oblivion, crippling our war effort tremendously."

"The enemy has no intentions of that dear comrade" Megnio responded. "For they have been deploying ground troops in massive quantities, their attempts to weaken the planet involved bombing Aurelian prime city, which shrugged off this pathetic excuse for a bombardment easily. It would seem our enemy will take the planet with conventional means. "

"We can use this." Mannerheim continued. " If the enemy is concentrating on conquest, we should use this respite in repair and retrofitting, in time our brothers from the other relay will arrive through slower means here, making our fleet 90 vessels strong. Not to mention the mechanicus is using every resource in Indomitus to construct more vessels for us. According to astropath messages they will have new ships within 5 years, some 50 of them."

"Bah, I assume they will be of low quality as all of them before." Megnio spoke. " All of the ship casualties that happened were from these new ships, let us face it, without adamantium we can only look to the quality of our original ships, any new one is just a cannon fodder!"

There was a uproar in the chamber as the admirals leading these new ships stood up and argued with Admiral Megnio, they were outraged over such comparison.

Then the battle brother Tarquin stood, and all was silent as he raised his right hand. His voice began, strong as a lion, yet could move the worlds with words alone, helmet vox enhancing it further.

"Admirals, I would have peace, for we are all together in this. We are the leaders of mankind in this universe, and from our decisions rest the future of humankind, would you act differently than as leaders of men?"

Other admirals were silently listening, almost as if in shame over their previous outburst.

"We will transmit a message to Aurelian, the land war must be prolonged, buying us time to organize a proper counter attack and drive the xenos from our homeland.

In the meantime we will launch raiding attempts, their ships will attempt to harvest helium from the Aurelian Sun and use it as fuel, we will disturb any and all means of them harvesting it, their movements in the system will be stalked, and when vulnerable they will be struck.

We will use war of attrition and make our enemy pay for ever arriving here. We must repair and give our men rest as they have fought a space battle for days.

Then we will raid the enemy constantly, one ship at the time, they will be depleted, but be warned, I suggest ignoring the other xenos fleet hiding in the asteroids, we must concentrate on disturbing Aurelian invasion as much as possible, making time for our brothers to arrive.

I hold no illusions that this will end in death of millions of humans, even the deaths of my brothers, who are well aware of their mission, for we must hold back our most potent weapons, should we win the war on the ground too fast, the enemy fleet will simply bomb everything on the planet, using Emperor knows what weapons to make it uninhabitable, and our men will starve there as a result."

The Admirals were silent as they listened to the words of the marine

"we will bait the enemy, and the bait will be our lives. But through our sacrifice will we achieve victory. We know our duty, and we will do it. The long war begins now.

Do you have any comment on our situation fellow admirals" he said as he gazed at all admirals, who remained silent.

"Good, return to your posts, we have a war to win."

And so the admirals began the long preparation for war, the ships were repaired in isolated parts of the system which the enemy could not locate at first. Batarian patrols circulated through the system searching for both Quarians and the Imperials, at first, confident in their power, they went in smaller numbers, thinking that because they have beaten the imperials easily, they would do so again, unknowing or ignorant that the quarians made imperials tired and weary first.

And so they were hunted down and eliminated by vengeful humans, their crewmen were taken captive, in one particular case, a batarian admiral, so eager in proving himself to the hegemony took command of 80 ships and set on after a signal emanating from a damaged imperial ship in a now metal ring from the destroyed quarian ships orbiting one of the dead planets of Aurelian System, desiring to take it and and if possible acquire technology to prove himself to the supreme leader.

Disregarding caution, he surrounded the dormant vessel 800(0.5miles) meters in size and sent his best marines to board it. The violent docking proceeded without much trouble.

The Insides of the imperial ship were silent and dark, the power was out.

Advancing slowly the batarians were wondering, was the ship empty, or was this a trap? Hence they advanced carefully.

They entered a big gothic hall, with a saintly statue at its center with angel wings, long hair, and a single tear on his left cheek, behind the altar was a giant in red blue and white colors, his helmet a human skeletal head.

The batarians swarmed inside the giant cathedral and pointed their weapons at the marine, making a semi-circle, intent on capture, who unfazed by them, opened the book on the altar and began reading. The voice of a chaplain strong and radiant inside what seemed to be a site of prayer.

"For it was known, at the moment of truth, that our Father, the Emperor stood and fought the arch heretic, and lo did his broken son, his angel wings bloodied and battered, at his knees issued a silent plea to his father

"Father" he spoke "was it not for the fate of man that you would do this? Was it not for the souls of many that you would forsake your own? For it was our love that forged the imperium, is our love enough to hold it united?"

The angel was no more, his blue eyes void of the gentle soul that once inhabited them.

At this did the Emperor, in his most holy wisdom, decided the Imperium takes precedence over his own soul. And with his will alone, vanquished his fallen son and his patron daemons.

And so the heavens wept, and his will was done.

It is in his name, and his sacrifice that we do what is in our nature, protecting his flock, for the book of saints say that unto the Emperor all shall be done, and Unto his holy will shall we trust!"

Batarians were close to the podium now, the gentle flickering of the candles inside the hall being the only illumination, their glow making the shadows dance.

The chaplain closed the book.

"His will is ever present, and his judgment…"

From the shadows of the cathedral, silhouettes were moving carrying big ceremonial swords all around the Batarians, who were now realizing they were getting surrounded.

"…is now upon you." The chaplain finished as the horrified Batarians stared at him unable to act.

And as if a gust of wind blew through the great hall, candles died, and instead of a silent prayer, screams of horror from the Batarians could be heard, as the marines did their holy work.

On the batarian ship, there was now panic, they were locked with the imperial ship that turned on its power and magnetically locked the main Batarian ship with its own.

From around them other imperial ships appeared, their power on minimal, they silently cruised towards the Batarian fleet while they were preoccupied with docking. Powering up quickly they aimed their weapons at the Batarian fleet.

Now the imperial side batteries and lances pierced the unprepared Batarians, the glorious blue beams of light eating through the hull and xenos life forms, venting the atmosphere as they entered on one side of the hull and exited through another.

The main Batarian ship attempted to detach and take control of the situation in vain as it was now counter boarded, marines swarming through the decks bent on capturing its admiral.

Batarian admiral was losing his nerves, and issued orders to engage the intruders, they attempted to organize the defense in the docking bay, the doors simply giving way as they were cut by a power claw. Opening fire at the enemy boarding them, Batarians were shocked to see the enemy was unphased by their fire on them, their shields flickering as they took bullets as if nothing, the space marine terminators were bent on taking this ship and were marching slowly against their enemies.

Batarians panicked and began to retreat as the Assault canon began whirring from one marine who held it pointed against its cowardly foe, its lethal payload turning Batarian troopers into mincemeat, the cannons bullets chewing through Batarian personal armor as it wasn't there.

They continued towards the bridge, killing anyone foolish enough to try and stop them.

Batarian engineers were using their omni tools to seal the doors, on the main bridge the tension was high as they heard hard and heavy steps marching to the doors.

There was a bright flash as the marines broke inside, doors melted from plasma discharge, the scant few guards proving to be no use, as one giant terminator simply divided the nearest Batarian in two with his power sword, the rest simply threw their weapons away and prayed for mercy.

The marines entered the main bridge, some 6 of them. Their leader speaking

"Who is the leader here?"

Batarian admiral, mortified, stood up from his chair assembling his courage, or what remained of it, said "I am."

The marine simply said. "Good."

The main bridge erupted into violence again, as the terminators slaughtered everyone before they could raise their weapons to fight back, only admiral remained.

"we hereby present an invitation to you admiral, it would be impolite to refuse us." The marine spoke as he approached the admiral, his heavy boots cracking the corpses beneath him as if they were grapes. He now stood directly above admiral, dwarfing him easily by 2 meters.

"I assume refusal is not an option?" his fear so great he spoke nonsense.

"No." was the simple answer the marine gave. "move." was the second.

The Batarian admiral went to the imperial ship which was now active and alive with servitors and crewmen running about, some standing simply to gaze with unmatched hatred at him.

They entered a room with a chair made for lying down on it, in it several humans were moving about, and only one stood next to a chair, his smile unmoving from the moment he entered.

The admiral could see the human twitch, it had a helmet on it covering its eyes only its mouth was visible, it held a staff and was dressed in a long robe, and he felt nauseous just by being next to it. The admiral didn't know what a psyker is.

Human guardsmen pointed weapons at him and ordered him to strip down to his underwear, he obeyed as he had no other options.

Two humans then grasped him by the arms and placed him on the chair, locking him in. as he attempted a struggle.

The psyker stood above him and spoke.

"You will….speak. hmm, yes, speak. All we want to know. The plans, the numbers…all of it. Speak, yes, you will."

The Psyker spoke, his voice as if in pain, he twitched slightly as he finished and giggled a bit.

The admiral gathered his courage and said. "I will not, i am no stranger to pain, you will hear no word come out of my mouth."

The psyker twitched a bit, laughed silently before hovering over the admiral, his smile never ceasing.

"Words? No need for words…haha, no need."

"what do you mean…" the Batarian tried to speak as the psykers finger touched his forehead

And then the mind of a psyker invaded that of a Batarian one, digging through every memory he had as he screamed in ungodly pitch that put shivers in the spines of the present humans.

The lights in the room flickered as warp borne power of the psyker were put to action, the psyker's silent laugh increased in volume compared to the screams of the Batarian, before he stopped the mind invasion the Batarian screams died sooner than the laughter of a psyker, who as if through a great effort collected himself and controlled his laughter to a small giggle, and proceeded to leave the room.

The humans inside went to the Batarian who had blood flowing from all orifices, they noticed he soiled himself from pain, still twitching, they saw he was still alive, but the procedure rendered him little more than a plant.

Single guardsman took his las pistol and put it out of its misery. His body was ejected through the void lock and into space soon thereafter.

As the psyker dug through the mind of the xenos admiral he learned many secrets. They now knew the plot of the batarians, for the admirals brain provided more than they could have hoped for.

The other xenos enemies are called Quarians, and they too were used in an insidious plot, for the enemy sought imperial technology in order to take vengeance on other xenos foes. But from this came relief, for they knew the quarians were fooled, still the imperials made their mind that any such transgression would be punished in blood, regardless of intention.

Some admirals debated sending the message to quarians and asking for a ceasefire. But without knowing where the fleet is, and the manner of delivering the message, it was swiftly discarded. Then again, cooperating with xenos is highly frowned upon, and not befitting an admiral of the Imperial Navy.

And so days and months passed as the imperial navy played cat and mouse game all the while maintaining connection with the stranded fleet, the mechanicus shipyard on indomitus, and the Aurelian ground troops. Batarian communication jammers were useless in stopping them, as the humans used astropaths, who were bred and cloned on Indomitus as their numbers were few in this universe, same with any other special human, like the navigator or the psyker. All were put through a special program to increase their numbers as much as possible.

The ground troops reported the enemy was inexperienced with waging such apocalyptic wars, their first tank bout turned horrible for the batarians, pleads to take the fight to the enemy were made, and fell on deaf ears, for their blood was a grain of sand in the hourglass of time, and they needed to hold the line and status quo for unknown amount of time.

The batarian fleet was getting cautious dozens of ship casualties resulted in bigger patrols, whom were also attacked by the imperium, and so the batarians after losing near 450 ships in few years learned to avoid certain areas of the system, for they were the prey there, the imperium ships were faster, and had longer range weapons, by the time batarians approached and scathed the shields or did minor damage, they would lose dozens of ships.

Their only hope was in full fleet engagement, which the Imperials refused to give.

Batarian fleet admirals debated the necessity to take the entire fleet to such points in the system and crush the opposition, but conflicting opinions prevented any meaningful action taken, for should the Batarians move away from the planet and into pursuit, they feared the imperium would return and destroy their ground troops, rendering the entire operation pointless. And so they sent patrols and established space supremacy somewhat, but the main fleet moved only from Aurelian Prime planet and its moon and the relay, nowhere else were they patrolling, only the most critical points were defended.

The siege lasted for far longer than it was expected, and soon various reports from Batarian homeworld began spreading to the fleet. Words of an AI developed by the Batarian scientists in order to assist in the war effort circulated among the high ranking officers, various testing phases of said AI in military purposes commenced 2 years ago, with manufacturing well under way. The further reports were missing. In general all the information stopped coming from Batarian Homeworld, this caused significant concern to the officers, and even the soldiers who stopped communication with their loved ones.

The Batarian government was well known for their secrecy, the soldiers paid little heed to it. But the officers were concerned and debated the necessity for this campaign. All of the critics and debates were silenced by the Premier on board the fleet, he would have no dissent when there was a war to be won.

Attempts to send a ship to check on the Batarian homeworld proved useless as there was an imperial ship on the other side of the relay hunting any who sought to pass. Desires to remove said ship from the premises was declined out of sheer fear that splitting their forces would make their position too weak to defend.

And so the Batarians were left with two options, stay and win the war at any cost, or retreat and suffer shame. And premier Korashi refused to retreat, knowing that wasting so much material and manpower without anything to gain would result in his execution after his return to Khar'Shan.

The Batarians are now committed until the end.

In the Asteroid fields The quarian fleet regrouped and began licking their wounds, many hails were organized to assemble all the ships within the range of the Quarian Flagship "Heimat".

Near 4000 Ships assembled once more, the rest either fled or were destroyed, so from the first wave ships of 12 000 vessels, only 4000 could be considered alive, with constant arrival of the ships which fled in all directions, returning to the flock in search of leadership and guidance.

The outrage from the quarian admirals against their ruler was immense, only Arahi'Ler survived, his sub admirals died in the battle against the imperials and the Batarians. The minor officers attempted a coup, but were surprisingly stopped by the Brown Masks of the Arahi'Ler along with the people of the flotilla who, even after such massive losses in manpower and ships ,loved their leader who gave them hope for the better future.

The rebelling officers were imprisoned and awaited further punishment as Arahi'Ler decided his options, fleeing towards the relay was seen as impossible as the Batarians guarded it and prevented any sort of escape from the system.

So the leader of the quarians did what no other leader in their history did, commenced reformations and various laws while the fleet hid and repaired their ships. They couldn't upgrade the ships with newer weapons for now, but various civil laws encouraged massive birth rates that the stressed and morally broke quarians gladly took upon themselves, the initial vaccine that was years in development proved effective as quarian immune system began to vastly improve. Allowing the Quarian females to give birth to healthy babies which began developing a strong immunity to various diseases, much to the joy of the now adoring Quarians towards their leader which cares for them so much.

On the personal note Arahi'Ler gave himself absolute power, he was now sole Leader of the Quarians. His word was now Law. The objections were not present amongst the quarians, who knew this spelled the end of their old way of life and the beginning of a newer one.

Personality cult revolving around him exploded in the years following the fleet's isolation and in hiding from the Batarian and the imperials. In the eyes of the Quarians their leader has led them on the single biggest crusade against the enemies of the flotilla, and he alone will lead them to salvation, punish the traitorous Tali'Zorah and Reestablish the new Quarian Reich, spanning the galaxy.

Such was patriotic fervor that some quarians dreamt of the moment they can take revenge on both the Imperium and the Batarian hegemony which caused it much pain.

In the time they had now on their hand, they repaired their ships, and attempted to make bigger and sturdier vessels by cannibalizing the smaller older ships, making few ships of up to 2 kilometers in size by increasing their hull thickness and literally sawing cannibalized materials from smaller ships onto the capital ones, a real feat that was used to its fullest extent for propaganda services by the new Quarian Socialist Reich Partei.

Quarians extracted revenge upon the Batarian ships that sought to gather materials from the Asteroid fields, the initial Batarian siege of the system was careless and unprepared, they thought they have already won, and acted that way. They were thus proved wrong by both the angry Quarians and Vengeful Imperials.

The quarian flotilla began replenishing their numbers in the years of their waiting in the system, it was not widely known amongst the galactic races that the quarians grew on a faster rate than their follow bipedal races. Namely at the age of 5, the child is already stepping in his or hers 15th year by human standards, and by age of 8 the Quarian child was considered a near adult, only few years away from reproduction capabilities.

By the end of the Aurelian siege, the Quarian flotilla had numerous near adults of the quarian race that were taught from young age to be devoted to the leader and the quarian reich. Taught to wage war and be loyal to the death, serving their own people, these new Quarians were seen by Arahi'Ler as the future of the Quarian race, a much better race than they were, one that will inherit the universe.

It was hard to imagine Quarians now as the space nomads they started with, since the rule of Arahi'Ler, they have turned from a race without cause or purpose to one that was constantly militarizing, various military organization and youth groups were formed, dedicated to war against their own enemies, seeking new ways to fight and win against the Geth, the Batarians, and and all who would seek to destroy them. These "New Quarians" were now a driving force in the political and social life on the flotilla. Luck was once more on the side of the Arahi'Ler, for his admiral rivals were dead, the officers imprisoned, and his people now truly united under a singular rulership. His.

He wasn't idling all these years, he kept a careful watch on the Batarian siege, and saw the imperials still waging a war of attrition, he considered what the Batarians did, to wait until they have both depleted themselves and then crush both the imperials and the Batarians. But such thoughts did not come to him gladly, for he was a soldier, and that was beneath him, for the imperials were not fighting his fleet in a cowardly way, but directly and honorably.

His new cadre of a gifted New Quarians proved skilled, their destruction of the Batarian patrols by their hands was seen as an impressive feat of void warfare, and the new tactics named VoidKrieg. a military tactic proving that fast and powerful surgical strikes against the weakest parts of the enemy fleet will shatter it and allow a swift victory. Much akin to what the Imperials were using, albeit a bit more civilly implemented.

He was now considering a counter strike against the Batarians, which in the years since the beginning of the siege lost some 700 ships according to his intelligence. Both by the Imperial and their own hands. From the original 2400 ships of the Batarian armada, later reinforced by 300 newer ones from the Batarian homeworld. now only less than 2000 remained against his 4500, but he had to take into the account the Imperials who might be waiting for them to make the wrong move, waiting for him to exhaust himself against the Batarians and then crushing both of them at once. He was thus reluctant to engage the Batarians in any meaningful and big way, only using voidkrieg tactics to destroy isolated fleet pockets over the months.

He avoided Imperial ships constantly, knowing what they were able to do, and they have done the same. It wasn't a ceasefire, but it was a sort of a silent agreement that they will not attack so long as the Arahi'Ler isn't attacking, and this silent agreement worked, At least for now.

Then their moment came, Arahi'ler and the Quarian fleet saw that another small fleet came from the relay, some 60 ships and were seeking to go to a certain point in the system. They were now hunted by the entire Batarian fleet which abandoned the system. He realized the imperium was making a move, the time for waiting has run out. His newer scans showed the approximate number of a 100 imperial ships moving to combine with the new arrivals. And before the Batarians could stop that from happening, the superior engines of the Imperial ships helped, and the fleets united, and engaged the Batarian armada in open space.

This was his moment, he ordered the Entire Quarian fleet to move and March towards the new space battle happening. He couldn't wait a moment more. This was the time to break out of the system, and take revenge at the same time.

So the 4500 Quarian Ships were now on the move for the first time in 5 years.

Meanwhile on the Batarian ships, prior to a new space battle, everything was filled with tension, the Batarian land commanders were issuing cries for help as the Imperium launched the ground offensive and was now cornering the Batarian invasion force in the south part of the continent, should they do nothing, the Imperials will exterminate them.

It took much time convincing the Premier Korashi to utilize full scale orbital bombardment, damned be the planet to hell, they were about to lose it all.

His nerve was tested, as bombing the planet would ruin all chances of him returning as the true victor. He thought of all that happened, him coming to this system filled with conquerors vigour, happy to bring his state much needed tech to utilize in their pursuit of galactic dominion. He dreamt to expand his power, and perhaps…just perhaps, his victory would be so great he would overtake the place of the leader of the Batarian Hegemony. He dreamt even as his vision collapsed around him.

The reality was painful, and he was mad beyond belief, and ordered the imperial forces glassed, he knew he was a goner, but if he could secure the remnant tech, he might at least preserve the head on his shoulders. And as the Batarian fleet gathered above the southern hemisphere, peppered by the Anti-Space batteries from Aurelian Prime City. they began calculating the orbital bombardment.

Before they could calculate and initiate bombardment, their proximity alarms rang, another fleet warped into the system. About 60 new ships came, gold coated and 1km in size, led by a veritable titan designed in this universe, 3km in size goliath named "Purification of Aurelian" in expectation of the battle for liberation of this system. Baring many weapons from their portside, and their freshly constructed laser weaponry glowing from the Aurelian sol's rays. They were the Imperial fleet from Indomitus relay, smashing dozens of Batarian patrol ships that guarded it aside as if nothing; they have come to drive away the xenos pest from their system.

The prime imperial fleet noticed and began moving towards the designated rendezvous zone, the crew from these ships cheering, knowing their moment of revenge was at hand, the engines fired up, and a wild race began in the same moment the ships from the Indomitus system came. The newly arrived ships, after swiftly crushing the Batarian patrol, engaged their engines to meet up with the larger imperial fleet.

They were chased by the Batarian fleet in its entirety, led on by the now half insane Korashi, they abandoned the planetary orbit and began their chase.

But their engines were just not fast enough and the Imperial vessels united scant 30 minutes before they engaged them.

150 imperial vessels now stood defiantly against the 2000 strong Batarian war host. Not waiting a moment, the imperial ships ordered the charge, the Flagship of the White Eagles in front, leading the charge. And thus the battle was engaged, the laser weapons fought against the thanix canons and the other Batarian numerous weaponry, this was the cream crop of the Batarian navy, over 800 ships were 1km in size and they attempted to carry the brunt of the battle. And thus did Aurelian receive another bloody battle that illuminated the skies of the planet even from the distance the battle was occurring.

The nova canon of the Space Marine flagship inflicted horrendous damage on the enemy, which had no shielding to protect them from such a powerful weapon.

Carriers released their fighters and bombers, which danced around each other flying over and under the titanic ships engaged in a mortal kombat.

The finest of the space marine pilots flying their own fighters leading the squad of their mortal human compatriots into the numerous Batarians that outnumbered them 4 to 1 in fighter quantity.

The imperial fighter crafts were sturdy and could take punishment from the rapid firing but rather weak fighter weaponry of their enemies, but the powerful las weapons of the fighter crafts of the imperium overloaded the shields of their enemy upon impact and frying the Batarian pilot inside as the engines instantly overheated and vented plasma in all sides out of critical failure.

The newer ships that arrived from indomitus proved sturdier than the original first designed models. Their hulls were thicker as the imperial shipyard expanded in the years since the first arrival, the militarization at which the mechanicus was capable was astounding, entire servitor legions were just solely concentrated on materials for the ships, the mechanicus found the most gifted of their human population and inducted them into the brotherhood teaching them the way of Adeptus Mechanicus, their skills were invaluable to the improving quality of the ships, for the novices knew about sophisticated ship building techniques in this universe, and after sanctifying their ideas in the name of Omnissiah applied them to the newer ships, improving their weapons and hulls.

The older priests protested, but rather silently as they knew they needed everything in order to win in a war of apocalyptic proportions.

And so for 5 years did they build ships while the population of Indomitus grew and the population of Aurelian died. Deciding they have waited enough after the information from the Imperial fleet in Aurelian system warned them the Aurelian population was near extinction, they have sent their 60 made ships into the battle, blessing them thrice before their flight. Almost 70% of the priesthood would have to board these ships and maintain them in war, only the oldest and wisest of priesthood remaining, their wisdom needed to teach the newer generations in the ways of Adeptus Mechanicus.

The battle in Aurelian system was more viscous than the first battle between imperials and quarians, first generation imperial ships built in this universe were being badly damaged by the Batarian navy, but the Second Gen ships that just arrived held their ground far better, and once again, even with obvious imperial superiority the battlefield was nearing a draw, with casualties mounting on both sides.

It was at this moment that the stalemate was interrupted by the approaching Quarian ships who were ready for war, the Imperials cursed the opportunistic xenos even as they attempted to redirect their Second Gen ships into the battle formation to block their right flank from the coming Quarians.

In their minds it would seem the Xenos came for blood of the imperials, and were determined to fight this time until the last man.

The Batarians were confused to the arrival of the Quarians, they thought they would remain in hiding for the duration of the battle or simply escape from the system, but their appearance disturbed them to say the least, they expected them to engage both their own and the imperial fleet at the same time, but their surprise turned to horror as the Quarian ships opened fire.

And only upon the Batarian ships, ignoring the imperial ones.

The imperial admirals were taken back by the decisions of the Quarian fleet, not knowing what they were doing; they saw the quarians fighting the Batarian flank exclusively, not firing against the Imperial vessels. not intent on opening the fire against the new enemy that didn't engage them, the Imperial vessels pushed even harder on the Batarians along with the newly arrived quarians led by the Heimat which fired its Quarian pattern energy canons against the Batarian vessels.

The battle was now turning against the Batarians with the situation rapidly deteriorating, and as the casualties mounted, Korashi saw the writing on the wall. They would lose.

The overwhelming pressure of the two combined fleets was to much even against the Batarians that put a strong resistance. But ship by ship, they were destroyed by the Angry Quarians and Imperials, who helped each other in the battlefield out of necessity, when the Batarian ship was near destroying the quarian ship, an imperial cruiser would fire its lance and intercept the killing blow, badly damaging the Batarian ship, which in turn was killed by the Quarian ship's guns which recovered in the meantime, and as the swarms of figher pilots attempted to overrun the imperial ships, swarms of quarian fighters returned the favour and distracted the swarm allowing the ship to get away and launch its own anti fighter weapons, it was an unholy alliance born out of necessity, and it was enough to spark the hope in both imperials and quarians in the final victory.

The battle lasted for an entire day, and the night brought an incredible lightshow to the planet Aurelian Prime, the night was coloured in explosions and laser weapons as they traveled across the starry skies. The faithful never stopped praying even as they fell exhausted, tired and dehydrated, they believed their faith was only thing keeping the human ships fighting, and only through prayer would they win.

The Batarian fleet was cracking, and it was obvious the ruin was near. On the collapsing flagship of the Batarian fleet, that drew its ire from both the Heimat, the flagship of the quarians, and Vengeance of Dushan the flagship of the Imperials.

Korashi sped to the escape pods as many in his fleet attempted to disengage and head to the relay. He was running as the ship was burning accompanied by his people's guard. Then there was an explosion and the debris filled the corridor, separating the premier and his bodyguard.

"Comrade Premier! Are you alright!?" one of the guardsmen yelled towards the debris in attempts to reach his premier.

"Cough, no time to waste comrades, I am fine, head to the escape shuttles, I will meet you there!" Korashi responded to his guard.

And so he ran, his lungs hurting from running but he knew time was running out, even as the ship collapsed around himself.

He reached the escape pod, but his guards were not there, the way they should have come from was burning, and they would take too long to get here in time by going around, tough luck he thought to himself, and began typing to open the escape pod doors.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him, turning him around and punching him in the face, before he can see his attacker he was thrown away on the opposite side from the escape pod impacting the wall.

As he tried to stand up, a kick to his sides brought him down on the ground again; he coughed from the impact, and looked above.

"Did you miss me…brother?"

"Rakoshi?" the premier weakly asked

Another kick to the ribs silenced him. Forcing him to the ground in pain.

"You should have kept the guards at the door…" Rakoshi spoke "the power died down, a fatal flow as the gates were no longer magnetically sealed."

He grabbed the hurt premier and lifted him up.

"You would leave me to die here brother? Hah, but of course you would…"

"Rakoshi there is no need for this, cough" the blood dripping onto his gold coated uniform "we can both get out of here, together"

"ah, I wasn't aware you were capable of such brotherly love. I guess I was mistaken about you?"

He then impacted the head of the premier with his forehead, breaking his nose. And threw him again to the ground.

"agh…Rakoshi, wait…I will pay you, you can have everything!"

"I already do have everything brother, but I do miss our little talks in the jail cell, in which you visited me weekly for some brotherly torturing." His face was scared horribly, as the alarm lights were blinking and illuminating his face for brief moments.

"Please… Don't do this.." the premier spoke as he grasped a hidden pistol on his belt and quickly pointed it towards rakoshi a bullet was sent flying moments later piercing Rakoshi's shoulder, who before his brother could fire again jumped on top of him.

They brawled for a time, fist meeting fist, as they fought.

"I should have killed your whore mother when I had the chance, our bastard father never could keep it in his pants!" the premier shouted as they were grappling, both bleeding

"That wouldn't help the fact that not even our father could love a shitstain such as yourself." He punched Korashi in the face, "he loved calling you a mistake!" Rakoshi said to him

"Motherfucker!" the premier kicked him with the knee.

The grappling was getting viscous as Rakoshi used his leg and launched his brother over him from the lying position and sent him flying to one of the open escape pod gates, that opened in the meantime as they were fighting, the impact from Premiers body triggering the emergency launch.

Unlucky for him the gates began closing insanely fast and caught his legs just below the knees. He shouted upon the realization and the suffering he felt, and second later magnetic doors sealed shut and launched the empty pod away, along with Premiers legs. Who yelled in excruciating pain and suffering.

He was in such pain that he was shaking and grasping his head from unimaginable and mind shattering trauma, never ceasing his howls.

Rakoshi stood up grasping his left side of the chest, premiers knee breaking a few ribs. He came closer to what remained of his still alive brother.

"Let me help you…brother"

He sat down fast, and grasped his brother behind the neck in a choke hold. The screams were silenced as the oxygen was deprived to him.

" I told you i will have your head for your treason…" Rakoshi spoke as the premier struggled to escape his grasp.

"we haven't the time for what I attempted to do to you…but I will make it quick at least"

"ba-sta-ggh-rd" premier spited words while still gripped hard.

"snake until the end." Rakoshi spoke, and violently snapped the neck of the premier, whose body went limp in his grasp. He tossed it violently to the side almost in disgust; he crawled to his dead brother and ripped a single medal from his chest. "That was mine you thieving bastard…father left that to me, not to you."

He stood up while holding the medal like object that fathers leave to their sons upon the death, as was tradition in Batarian hegemony.

He came to his senses as he saw the ship collapsing, and entered a pod , attaching security belt, he pressed the button and the doors closed, In moments before the launch he saw the lifeless body of his brother, his eyes open and gazing at him.

"Goodbye…brother" he spoke, and the pod was launched away, as the pod flew faster and faster, he could see the Quarian and Imperial ship cutting through the hull with their energy weapons, even as the escape pods were launched from it. and not a minute later the ship exploded, taking any and all hope of Batarians for victory.

He used his omnigel, and patched his shoulder, but the blood loss was getting to him, and he slowly drifted to unconscience. His pod aiming for the nearest relay.

After losing their leadership, the rest of the Batarian fleet was disorganized, and was easy prey for the unwitting coalition of Imperials and Quarians.

Scant few barely escaping with their lives, the Batarians lost the war, and near entirety of their fleet. The victory was total for both the Quarians and Imperials.

And now the two former enemies gazed at each other, nobody desiring to fire first, the tension was palapable as the imperial gunners were itching to resume conflict with their original foes.

But the Supreme Admiral Tiberius stopped the engagement, as much as he would like to fight he desired to know what caused this sudden change in attitude, and attempted to hail the Quarians via his vox frequencies, for solid two minutes there was no response as the quarians found a way to connect with them on this unknown frequency. This two minutes felt like an eternity as both fleets drifted against one another, ready to fight, but before that something happened...

The vox screen came to life and two former enemies saw each other. On one side Supreme Admiral Gaius Tiberius Iulianus, and on the other Leader Arahi'Ler vas Heimat.

After years of conflict, they translated each other's language, the low gothic of the Imperials and the Quarian dialect was now known to each other and the translators were running, but both recipients were unwilling to speak at first glance.

Tiberius, being the representative of the entire Imperium took pride in his act, and spoke first.

"I am Gaius Tiberius Iulianus, supreme Admiral of the Imperial Navy, chosen by the Imperial leadership and the God Emperor himself as his representative in this dialogue. I speak in the name of the Imperium of Man. With whom am i speaking?" he concluded, his voice being that of a veteran of centuries of war and an eloquent diplomat.

On the other side, the leader of quarians didn't wore his mask, he would not hide his face when meeting with his biggest enemy. He spoke as well.

"I am Leader Arahi'Ler vas Heimat, of the Quarian Reich. Chosen by my people to represent them in both matters of war and peace, and I would end the hostility between our peoples."

Upon those words the imperial bridge was in an uproar, as admirals saw this as a provocation. Tiberius silenced his fellow admirals simply by raising his hand.

"You would have peace after invading us? If you weren't assisting us right now, I would consider your words as mocking the might of the Imperium." Tiberius spoke

"I have realized the enemy we just destroyed together had created an insidious ploy to set our two races against one another; we held no desire in conquering you." Arahi'Ler spoke, his words honeyed without his mask, he was in his 40s by Quarian standards, but his face was young, quite humanlike with purplish skin and pale white hair, his eyes lacked the irises present in humans, being very white.

"Hence why I've decided to make amends, and help your fleet win. It is my way of offering peace, as you are an honorable enemy, unlike that of the Batarians who fought through cowardice."

Tiberius was surprised by the charisma of this xeno, but his words didn't sound false or as lies, he was convinced in his honorable presentation and spoke with his entire heart.

"It is not in Imperium's nature to be in debt to anyone, least of all a xeno. We can have peace, should you leave and never engage us in conflict ever again. You have transgressed upon our land and for this we have fought and waged war, but such conflict ends now with your display of honor. Why were you here in the first place?" Tiberius spoke, gazed upon by his admirals, it was uncommon, almost unacceptable to speak with a member of a xenos race, but still they trusted in Tiberius and his leadership.

"We have searched for a home to call our own, a planet to habitate and live upon; it was the false information of the Batarians that have set us on the course to your planet without any knowledge that it was already owned.

It is why we have also helped you fight; our people suffered enough, but were not filled with desire to contest this planet with you.

We hence will leave you in peace should you allow us to do so."

Tiberius thought for a moment and contemplated the words of this xeno.

"You may go in peace Admiral. Live your lives and leave us to ours, lest we come to conflict again."

"It is what we truly wish, thank you." Arahi'Ler spoke, and nearly disconnected the communication.

Tiberius intercepted him.

"You said you were searching for a planet?"

"Yes, we are." Arahi'ler responded, puzzled a bit.

"We are not ones to be indebted to anyone." He spoke proudly. "Our explorators discovered a habitable planet that might suit you on the other end of the northern part of the galaxy, very far from here. Far from our sights. But perhaps not from yours, it consists of peaceful fauna and harmless flora.

This planet is now yours if you seek to colonize it. And with this, consider our debt paid in full"

Arahi'Ler was taken aback, and was lacking words for a moment, he sought help from the "friendly" citadel races for help and was always denied, and here, he is witnessing his former enemy who cost him in millions of quarian lives, telling him where to find a home for his people. But the eyes of the aging human did not lie, Arahi'Ler would know, he saw many liars and honest people in his life, and his were not the ones, like him, this was a soldier of many wars, and he had no reason to lie.

"Honorable admiral, your gift will be remembered always. You have gifted us with hope most of all things. I thank you." Arahi'Ler said his lips parting into a smile.

"The Imperium never forgets or forgives Leader Arahi, this conflict between us was born out of trickery and not honorably, and as such it should end in peace

It is only Just in this unfair and mad galaxy void of his light." Tiberius said. His admirals looked dumbstruck, but his words were not wrong either, the Imperium is mighty, but it is not without honor.

"Lord Admiral, it was an honor knowing you. The Quarian Reich will not engage in hostilities with the Imperium of Man. We will cherish your gift as we make a home for ourselves."

"Farewell honorable foe, honor and glory to you." Arahi'Ler finished, raising his hand in a symbol equal to roman salutation of the old Earth.

"Farewell Admiral, Honor and Glory to you as well." He finished and made the sign of Aquila on his chest.

The vox line was cut, and Tiberius sat on his chair, silently observed by his admirals, they too realized the logic of this old man, if the fledgling Imperium is to survive, it must not make enemies everywhere it goes, lest it backfires again and takes down the last hope of Mankind in this universe with it.

The Quarian fleet, organized in formations, left the system ship by ship. Watched on by the Imperial Armada, which in its own formation escorted them out of it. Civility ruled the moment as two former enemies departed one from another in peace and without incident.

Then the Quarians were gone, off to make a destiny of their own.

The Humans reached Aurelian, and were welcome by the victorious ground troops, jubilant and happy people sang songs to welcome their saviors; a week-long celebration was organized in the Imperium, as they celebrated the victory over their hated xenos foes, afterwards a swift war rebuilding had to be made, for there was a war to win, and the fleet began organizing, carrying the troopers that could still fight,along with its Titan legion. They desired to take war back to the Batarians, and they were eager to punish the vile xenos for their insult.

But little did the Imperium knew, the Batarians had a problem of their own That reached its critical point in the months before the end of the Aurelian Siege.

The Galaxy will forever be shaken by the events of this Great war, even if they refused to believe in the beginning, the galaxy now knows, the new player has entered the stage with its own act to play.

The Imperium roared its existence to the galaxy, and it shivered at the sound.


	13. Chapter 12: The Heresy of Anhur

Chapter 12: The Heresy of Anhur and the Galactic events of the Human-Batarian War.

In the times known as the Great Batarian Human war, to say that the galaxy was in turmoil and in times of chaos would be underestimation. For in those 6 years from the moment of the Batarian invasion and its conclusion the galaxy suffered numerous events that have shaped its future for the better or the worse, it was unlike any event that happened to the galaxy until that time, not seen since the Rachni war and its aftermath. The Batarian invasion of the Imperium sent shockwaves across the cosmos, not only was the information of this massive invasion concerning to the Citadel Council and the Human Alliance, but the prospect of the Batarian army invading what was known then as a human isolated colony has strained the patience of everyone in the galaxy to the breaking point.

Upon hearing the news of the Batarian invasion on the outer human colonies the Alliance was on a brink of war and mass mobilization of its forces commenced, the Citadel races and council sent numerous messages to the Batarians to cease any and all hostilities, as the councils threatened even more economic sanctions and expulsion of any Batarian in the citadel space, the human alliance threatened to use war as a means to save its colonies.

This was mostly an empty threat as the Alliance had numerous stability issues that prevented it from doing any sort of meaningful military action without exposing its rear to the internal rebellious elements, hence it came as a relaxing news to the leadership of the alliance when the human systems in question were part of a rebellious human group unknown to Systems Alliance and anybody else in the galaxy.

So the threat of Military intervention was lowered to simple weapon display and empty diplomatic sanctions which affected no one, and did not even contribute to the situation solving, for what alliance was concerned this new element of humanity was Cerberus cell hidden for decades and poised to strike at them at any moment.

Also, the Humans had tremendous problem on Anhur, which would only become far worse than anyone in the galaxy could imagine.

The Citadel council issued several acts allowing Turians and Salarians more military funding in order to prevent Batarians should they decided to act on aggression against the citadel controlled space.

This was most welcomed by the militaristic Turian Hierarchy ,which increased its ship production threefold, and enacted various space stations in the systems bordering Batarian hegemony, which calmly in a fashion belonging to the Hegemony, issued diplomatic protest, and then went silent.

Turians would see much militarization in the coming years as the news of war and eventual Batarian failure struck the galaxy like a hammer.

The Imperium was known to all now, and it issued that any transgression on its space would result in a totalen krieg.

The imposed limitation on the dreadnought construction was lifted, now the ships limits would be only its resources, no longer were they constricted to 1km long ship, now they were free to build as they wished. But to the Turian hierarchy ,inexperienced of building super-sized ships, it would take many years until they could perfect such construction, which they wasted no time and began enacting shipyards to better suit their new military manufactoriums.

The Turian Hierarchy was now officially in a cold war with the newly known Imperium of Man, desire to invade the weakened imperium was prevented, as the various videos of the enormous ships of the imperium circulated on the GalacticWeb, their armies and forces were now the terror and dread of the galaxy.

And even the might Turian hierarchy decided to build up its military before engaging such a powerful foe, weakened or not.

The existence of Imperium of Man were not kindly seen by the Citadel Council, such was a paranoia of a human coalition of Systems Alliance and Imperium of Man, that any diplomatic agreement was put on hold or outright canceled, the ambassadors and diplomats were promptly expelled from the citadel, and protests from the Systems Alliance was outright ignored, such was HumanoPhobia of the Council upon realization that their tight grip on the galaxy was to be tested, that they enacted laws of confiscation and expulsion , namely the Humans in Citadel Race planets were to be expelled outright to the human space.

This exodus was enforced by the Turian military, various protests were silenced by the sheer impact of the videos of the human genocide seen on Both Anhur and Aurelian, and even the human sympathizers were not keen on defending a race capable of torching million corpses in the name of their newfound God.

And so it was that humans had to return to their own planets, this influx of millions of refugees caused economic collapse in the alliance, the sanctions, military blockades and various factors imposed by the Citadel Federation caused the markets to crash and inflation to be rampant, as the Humans were forced to utilize various currencies of the Earth Nations in place of the galactic credit, such was the price of multi globalism.

Citadel Federation, as it was to be known after the End of Imperium Batarian war, whose new goal became unification of all xenos races into a single entity much tightly ran than ever before, united in purpose of defense from the human threat. It would begin to militarize itself out of sheer paranoia from the imperial enemy. And in the years to come would be nothing like the Citadel Space of the ages past.

The collapse of the Alliance was close, planets were revolting and the economy was in shambles, various nations from the planet Earth decided to go their own way, and it would seem the Alliance would cease to be.

But Anhur seemed to prove a great opportunity to appease the council, and regain their formers status, and quite possibly preserve the young Systems Alliance. Namely, for years now the human population of anhur was committing xenocide upon the Batarians, and in the year 4 of the Imperium-Batarian war the citadel council has sent a coalition of troopers, turians, salarians and Asari in order to save the Batarian populace and establish order. The alliance saw this coalition as chance to prove themselves as peaceful organization ,unafiiliated with the Imperium, and so hundreds of thousands of alliance soldiers were on the way to Anhur.

The Events of Anhur would shake the galaxy more than anything else seen up until that point, for on that planet, few acts have set into motion things beyond comprehension.

In the years since the first Anhurian Uprising , the Religious militia led by Stefan began expanding across the three continents of the world of Anhur, one has fell to the advances of the faithful, and on it, the most cruel and unspoken acts occurred, witch hunting, burnings, and outright mania commenced against the xenos, and even on the humans still holding sympathies to the xenos and their woes.

On the liberated continent renamed Europa, in honor of the old terran continent, masses of faithful began erecting temples in the name of the Emperor, Zealous acts were common, and people were still grasped by the new prospect for the future, giving themselves wholly onto their new faith.

Old furnaces and new burst into life, as the fire in their bellies roared anew, weapons and armors were made, under the watchful eyes of the most zealous priests ,the young and old learnt crafts and made equipment for the faithful militia.

Armors made of steel, thrice sanctified and decorated in symbolism were mass produced and equipped, looking more like steel armors from the medieval ages, they would serve their purpose well, for in the end, it is not the armor that protects, but the Emperor, and that was all that faithful needed in their victory.

Swords were constructed, as well as primitive gun and artillery, alliance tech present on the planet were repurposed, and used in equipping the faithful.

The faithful militia were strong, but they needed dedicated army, so they have constructed Legio Templar, armed similary to the Imperial Guard, they were armed with remodeled Lasguns which were decorated in symbols of the Imperial Cult, their armour was white and grey, and on their chest was the sign of Aquila, the entire soldier was coated in Steel armour designed in such a way as to best reflect the incoming bullets of the weaponry used by the xenos. The helmet of this new faithful army was unlike that of a common guardsmen, it was fully enclosed, leaving only enough opening for eyes and mouth, designed in a shape of a cross, if one could make a comparison, the Legio Templar resembled their original counterparts who waged wars of faith on old Terra, the ancient Templar order lived again.

Millions upon millions of humans worked and warred on this planet, as the Batarian and other alien remnant populations dug in and held for their dear lives under the constant assaults of the faithful which were on the verge of conquering the second continent Amelia. They knew if they lost, the only fate awaiting them would be one of fire and death.

But on the third and the most largest continent, the situation was most precarious, the continent of Haotica held the biggest xenos population when compared to human one, and the constant advancing of the human faithful stalled, the war regressed into melee brawl and each kilometer took days to conquer.

To make matters worse, into this furnace of war, Citadel Federation Army, or CFA as it would be known in the future, deployed countless thousands of soldiers, Turian, Asari, Salarian, even Krogan and various other races took part in the ongoing conflict. The krogan were hardest to bring, for their numbers were on constant depletion, but the ever eager mercenaries and pirates gladly took upon themselves to join the fray, some out of greed and prospect of loot, some for more noble purposes, and some just came to wage war, for it was all they ever knew.

These newly arrived forces turned the tides, and the advances of the Faithful militia stalled, worse yet, were threatened with repulsion from the conquered regions.

Stefan realized the severity of the situation on the biggest content, he knew that the newely enforced planetary blockade prevented any faithful to join the Imperium, and any imperial reinforcements to join him. He was busy wrapping up the conquest of the second continent before the C.F.A could land upon it and bring problems with them.

He knew the xenos would no doubt target his infrastructure, so the biggest manufactorums were built in the mountains of this planet in the years after its conversion. But the xenos fleet, considering themselves righteous, and unused to this type of warfare did not target civilians or civilian buildings, their ships were not even designed for planetary bombardment, and were used to blockade the planet and bring more troops onto it. For now, this worked in Stefan's favour, but he knew he had to act against the fleet sooner or later. It came as a welcome surprise to find out that Systems alliance, fearing the Batarian Hegemony ,and potential escalation of conflict, had hidden nuclear weaponry of the most modern design in its hidden military bases around the continent of Europa.

Dozens of warheads with enough megatons of power to scour the planet clean of life two times over were now sitting idly and in his control.

He considered the utilization of these weapons against the land forces, but knew that if he had done this, there was nothing stopping the xenos fleet of glassing this planet with their own weapons of mass destruction, so he did what was most logical and utilized the nuclear weaponry against the fleets orbiting Anhur.

The fleets were preoccupied with rescuing the civilian populace, hundreds of various transports unloaded soldiers and loaded civilians onto them, they were invested in their business so much, that they barely had time to register the surge of power on the planet, and by the time the proper reaction could be formed, the nuclear payload detonated against various ships, causing catastrophic casualties in both the civilians and ships. It was a staggering blow to the relief effort, as the skies of Anhur were burning for hours as the debris fell onto the planet's surface.

The C.F.A's fleet was now crippled, and they decided on retreating and repairing, any evacuation effort was put on hold, and only ships carrying military supplies were allowed to pass.

Stefan has won for now, but he held no illusion they would return, and with vengeance. His efforts to take the second continent would take time, so in order to establish a better situation on the biggest continent of Haotica, he has given joint command to his fellow priests, Arebus and Lepidus.

Lepidus had a gift for military command, more accustomed to war than priestly duties, and Stefan needed that right now. He was trustworthy and could inspire his men to great deeds, not a psyker, he trusted his instincts and was skilled in tactics ,taught to him by his officer father who intented for him a military career rather than priest one. he would control the second faithful militia, the largest group on the continent, he was commanded to take over the entrenched cities of the continent or at least expand ground as fast as possible before the CFA forces managed to establish ground control there, the Eastern front was now divided in two, between Lepidus and Arebus. His was the southern part of the eastern front, the warmest and wettest part, it would be a brutal struggle there before he could win, and setting his mind to the task Lepidus departed from Europa Continent to Haotica continent.

Stefan's second choice for the front was Arebus, now Arebus was a weird one, he was not as skilled in military tactics like his counterpart Lepidus, but what he lacked in tactics, he more than compensated in oratory skill and ability to inspire his men, he came under the notice of Stefan during the first years of fighting, when he inspired hundreds of humans to launch a suicidal charge against one of the most fortified military bases of Europa Continent which refused to surrender for months after the rest of the continent. His zealousness won the day, and he was given military command. His inspiring skills would be needed more than ever in order to take this continent.

He was a psyker, while not known amongst the priesthood at the time, he has noticed a development of his psychic abilities during the Anhur uprising, lacking proper tutoring on the nature of warp and how to use his power, he had to learn himself, while the nature of the warp in this universe was a calm lake, it was still prone to shaping.

The Warp in this universe was weird to say the least, so much different than its original counterpart in the original universe, but also very similar.

For in the hurricane of emotions and war and sorrow in the original universe, warp could be categorized as super nova of turmoil and emotions, to gaze upon it without preparation is to invite madness and possession, it was quite simply put, a certain death for an unprepared mind, if you could compare it to a lake, it was always stormy and if someone attempts to throw a small stone at it, the lake wouldn't notice, for it was already rocked catastrophically by Gods and men using the warp for their own purposes.

But here? Here if you throw a small stone ,it would send ripples across the entire lake, which was still as a glass.

This new Warp, this still lake, took forms of their own now, the arrival of warp sensing humans from another universe changed its nature, and in the stillness of it,the new God was being born, through prayers and acts of faith, a God of Order and Humanity was slowly forming through the common belief of the Imperials in the God Emperor. If one could wait thousands of years, or mere seconds, for time flew differently in the warp. One might see a birth of the Emperor in this new lake..or something akin to it, or Emperor forbid, something as an anathema to everything living.

The priests knew not how this warp reacted to emotions or other acts, but it was different from the original stillness that was felt upon their arrival. The still lake was shaken by them, and now, other races, their beliefs, emotions and acts affected the lake. The rules of the game have changed, but besides the Imperials, nobody knew about the warp, and for now, the game rules were written by the humans and nobody else.

Warp was an endless lake of energy, used freely by the psyker humans, those taught in the original universe were conservatively using the power, they still held stigma to that dreaded place.

But Arebus, he utilized the warp as much as he could, he was forewarned by his Archbishop Stefan to learn discipline in using his new found energy, but in his presence he acted as he was obeying his advices, in private, he taught himself and dwelled in the warp for long periods of time, enjoying the stillness of it.

He learned bit by bit that his acts can shape the lake as much as it suits him. bit by bit, he modeled the lake to suit his needs. And as the months passed on the biggest continent in war, he silently forgo his priestly vows, he bedded many faithful women, promising them healing and comfort in the service of the Emperor…through him.

Siring many bastards he felt beyond the reach of common men, the more he dwelled in Still Warp, the more he felt stronger; much more akin to God, than other men, the power was intoxicating for him.

He learned how to hide himself expertly, in the presence of his brother priests, he was a pious example of a man, clean, ordered, disciplined, saintly almost.

But in his private chambers, surrounded by the most zealous bodyguards loyal to him, he engaged in the pleasures of flesh. The faithful of Anhur, not knowing the imperial faith in its full like their priest leaders, did not know what it truly constituted off. They knew the Emperor was a sole God of them, and were convinced the priests were uncorruptable and represented the most holy God Emperor in all aspects of faith and deeds, and so they dedicated themselves, bodies and souls in furthering the goals of their fate, trusting blindly onto their leaders for guidance.

As the war was escalating thanks to the arrival of Citadel Federation Armies, so has the hubris of Arebus rose equally. The southern part of the eastern front saw progresses as the Lepidus used his militia quite efficiently taking city after city, but the continent was vast, and it would take many years with their current army composition to take it.

The northern part of the eastern front of the continent led by Arebus become stagnated, true, it was here where the majority of the CFA forces were located,as were the finest of militia and other various military groupations. The xenos were supported by the newly arrived Alliance soldiers, whom were coldly welcomed by their xenos compatriots, doubting the reasons for their presence.

The Alliance soldiers have settled in and joined the fray, much to the curses of their human enemies whom they fought against. It was a horrific sight, for the last human wars did not happen for half a century on Earth, their morale was bad, as they were unused to waging war against fellow humans. And there were many cases of desertion near the Lepidus line, the alliance soldiers, their faith in Systems alliance and Xenos Compatrios destroyed, deserted and joined their human brothers, and were welcomed quite warmly by the faithful militia.

The desertions would only increase in time, much to the anger of the xenos coalition, which was quite angry at the alliance soldiers, so much so they considered outright expelling them from the planet, or engaging them in hostilities, as they seemed unegger to wage war against zealous humans.

The Arebus, became more and more preoccupied with himself and his affairs rather than war, giving command to the front to this subordinates, he became petty with passing of time, and was intoxicated by his time spent in the warp and by the praises lavished upon him by his human followers.

As Stefan took longer than expected to subjugate the second continent, he was delayed greatly from joining the final conquest on the Haotica Continent, the communications between the continents became strained thanks to the interference of the seasonal super storms raging on its oceans, scrambling electronic communications, only leaving psyker contact possible, and from that alone, he was told by Arebus that all was well and advancing as planned, he could not check in person ,and he had to trust the word of his commanders.

In the years that passed as the Imperial-Batarian war raged on, the front more or less stabilized to a sickening point where they had to resort to semi trench warfare, city was taken by militia, and then retaken by CFA forces, whom then counter attacked and had driven the CFA back, the cities changed hands often in these times, as no side could gain clear advantage without a true armor support.

The Arebus line was showing weird signs and his soldiers were acting strange, drunkenness and other uncouth behavior became more common, women were freely groped and molested.

The suspected heretics suffered tortures not seen before, and their torturers displayed joy in their acts, each competing with another who could make their own potential heretics confess faster.

The streets were rife with usury and stealing, the rapes were astronomically rising, as the Arebus soldiers acted as common gangs and warlords, installing their own order and law on the liberated and conquered human and xenos populace.

Arebus himself, discarded his priestly robe, and resorted to wearing golden decorated dresses and jewelry, at first he walked amongst the overjoyed humans who near worshiped him, as he radiated intense energy from him, he was beautiful, and getting more beautiful by the day, his times meditating in the warp filled him with impressive energy which he freely absorbed without concern.

Lepidus sent messages via his psyker to Arebus, asking why his front is stagnating, as the various natural fenomena and super storms, as well as the bad situation on the front prevented Lepidus from checking himself. Charismatic as always ,Arebus convinced his fellow Commander that all is well, and is getting better, so much so he offered an invitation to his head quarters in order for them to discuss the battle plan in detail, Arebus said , he had a plan to win the war, and he needed to speak with him personally.

Lepidus was cautious to say the least, various rumors circulated about Arebus, and he promised to visit his co commander in the nearby future, as soon as he Lepidus front is stabilized enough for him to do so.

Arebus agreed, albeit disappointed, he had plans for Lepidus, and they would have to wait until he arrived. And so time passed in the war, Lepidus could not visit anytime soon, the front took all his time, as the CFA constantly deployed more and more forces. And so the two commanders continued with their war as best as they knew how. But Arebus had other things in plan and he began to exact them slowly but surely.

He walked the filthy streets with his hands held high, blessing the common folk who sought to touch the living avatar of their God. He touched them in return, caressing their faces and uttering sweet words, promising joy and happiness, and various pleasures to them. The Gold gleaming off of him was a sight to behold.

With time, the situation became more and more like a dream…or a nightmare, the populace under his domain became more and more decadent, but their love for Arebus increased many a fold. For more than a few, he WAS their God.

The women opened their clothes and offered themselves to him, throwing their naked bodies full of lust before him, asking their living God to do whatever he wanted with them.

He took few of the most beautiful on the spot, blessing them afterwards, much to the joy of the mad crowd, who themselves were overcome by lust. He smiled as he saw the adoration of the crowd.

He was at this time being carried by his loyal followers on a large golden pedestal. And was near naked, his perfect body on display for all, his loyalist guard wore armour that was exposing vital parts of their body, it was more for decoration than for combat.

The populace began doing unspeakable acts, as the influence Arebus had on them was immense, with each day he spent in the Still Warp, he radiated its energies around him, his beliefs became their ,his desires became desires of the people, what he wanted and desired in its most deepest form seeped into the souls and minds of the people and it could be seen, and not just felt.

The streets became cacophonies of lust and decadence, the once chaste populace gave themselves freely to the word of their new lord Arebus, lust took over them, orgies and other such acts occurred daily. Fornication and other ungodly acts with various species happened, for it was now a prize to capture any xeno on the other side and do with them as they saw fit, what they had done, is sacrilegious, and outright heretical.

I fear, writing such deeds done in those dark months would taint the pages of this book, for the acts that happened in the domain of Arebus were something born out of chaos. But how could that be? What madness gripped Arebus, and the answer was not as simple as it seemed, the Still Warp was like clay, to be shaped by its sculptor, the more Arebus sculpted his desires in the warp and gave himself power, the more those said powers changed his very being, he became what he truly desired, but the warp is not clay, clay does not change its artist the way he changed the clay.

Arebus, with each hour and day spent in the Still Warp of this Universe, became more and more less Arebus, and more something else, something he forged from his putrid desires and pitifulness.

Arebus was no doubt gone at that point; he consumed himself with his desires, and instead of Arebus was a primordial being, a warp born, first of its kind, for how can one best describe the invention of the mind becoming the reality, and taking his creator.

If the warp was a raging hurricane in the original universe, in which no action can add more to its Chaos, than this ones Still like a glass warp was being impacted by the acts of Arebus, as if someone would take an asteroid and impact it full force into the still lake, the result is catastrophic.

He was now a being of pure energy, channeling the warp into reality, and the more he persisted here, the more he corrupted those around him, so the Domain of Arebus became his personal fiefdom upon which the most depraved things were considered normal and acceptable.

The Arebus being gazed upon its creation, and saw that it was good.

His very own palace was the center of this depravity, from its vast halls the constant screaming and sounds of pleasure were heard, cannibalism was practiced, as the master cooks sought to outdo one another with their delicacies.

Women lost themselves to the sheer demand of the lust, and the outright smell of sex and desire permeated the hall of eternal orgy, where the deepest, darkest desires were satisfied and expanded upon.

Various peasant girls entered humbly here, leaving as skilled and practiced pleasure seekers, spreading the gospel of flesh.

Children offered by their depraved mothers, and other forced peasant and city women were brought here, and upon them unspeakable acts were performed.

The author began shaking, as if seeing the events first hand, his mechanical eyes showing terror one would not expect to see from iron and silica.

"Forgive me Emperor, but I will not write this, lest I lose my soul in describing such vile acts that go against all you have created."

Author then continues writing, seemingly unaffected by the horrifying visions.

The priests who sought to oppose the Arebus Being were captured, and upon their holy flesh various acts invented by the new masters of pain were inflicted.

Some were thrown as plaything in the cells of the mutating woman who were so gone beyond the lust, their bodies changed and began gaining purplish tone, they drooled at the mouth, for the prospect of flesh abuse and pleasure was the sole single thought on their minds.

Many priests wished death was upon them before the woman creatures were done with them.

It was at that time that the flag of Aquila was replaced, the golden colour was no longer seen on the flags, now the flag bore a symbol of combined male and female gender, on a purple background. The symbol one might know in the original universe as Slaaneshian one.

Lepidus became aware of the situation on the Arebus line, but was unaware about the severity of it. The seeming decadence was apparent as his soldiers were being attacked and captured at their post, describing their attackers as humans wearing purple clothing, wearing sexual symbolism, he would gladly attempt to warn Stefan on what he presumed was a minor heretical incursion into the faithful.

But his sole psyker was dead, they were already rare, and his last one died attempting to connect with Arebus seeking explanation why his troops are attacking friendlies.

The screams of his psyker still echoed in his mind, even as he recalled the psyker screaming and grasping his head as the purplish light burnt his brain from the inside out, exiting through the mouth hand eyes, before simply falling down and dying. He was now isolated from spreading the news to Stefan, suspecting foul play, he ordered dozens of couriers to attempt to reach second continent and warn Stefan personally. The super storm was still raging over the oceans, preventing any attempt at communication.

Lepidus gave orders to his commanders to hold the line and departed with his 40 000 soldiers, intent on arresting Arebus for his heresies. He passed over the Ararat mountains, even as the land storms were raging, he knew time was of the essence, like Hannibal of old times, he crossed the frozen mountains whipped by strong storms.

He lost half his forces in the crossing; their frozen bodies now hold eternal watch in the mountains, for all times.

He passed into the Domain of Arebus easily, seemingly without resistance, crushing few small groups attempting to derail him, he approached Arebattia, the capital city of this domain, once a military headquarters, it has drawn faithful which built houses around it seeking protection from the evils of the galaxy in vain.

Fearing ambush, Lepidus did not enter the city, his men were also tired, but demanded to speak with Arebus, whom responded sending a courier asking him to join Arebus for a feast in his palace, saying this was all a misunderstanding and that he will surrender to Lepidus should he find his beliefs heretical.

Lepidus thought about the invitation, if he attempted to take the city, the enemy would notice the new civil war between the imperial factions and seize the initiative. Left with little options, he ordered his men to build an improvised fort not far from the city, should the need arises, he sent messengers to his military lines, ordering them , should he not send word of his success soon, they should dug in and defend their position, both from friendlies and the xenos foes, with that he gathered provisions and took off to the palace with 1000 men, his Legio Templar Guard.

He passed through the empty streets, the smell of blood, bile and bodily waste raped his senses, as the men also recoiled from the stench.

On the road they found 5 men raping a woman, which was already blood drenched from abuse, they have used their knives to carve entrances into her body for their own depraved pleasure. he ordered them to cease their abominable work and surrender, promising them a swift death should they comply.

They stood up from their deed, naked and equally drenched in various fluids and began charging the fire line of the Legio Templar.

The Templar have done swift work of them, killing them with their lasguns.

He approached the mauled woman, she was still alive, he called for a medic and crouched next to her with his second in command as the Templar watched for any other surprises.

He told her everything is going to be ok, the medicus will heal her.

She gazed upon him, chills ran up to his spine as she attempted to smile, she was gargling on blood and who knows what else, her hands shook as in great shock as she barely managed to get them to grasp her own brests.

Her flesh pulsated, human flesh, the open wounds made by knives and polluted by rape, oozed yellow liquid, as she moaned through great pain.

She locked her eyes with him, making a bloodied smile , lacking teeth and coughing violently. She spoke.

"M-more….i want….more ."

She reached her hand in order to touch him, fearing pollution he swiftly evaded her attempt, and stood up. The horror didn't end there, the woman parted her legs, revealing her organ, nearby Templars grimacing as they saw the nightmare before them. Her private part was unrecognizable, a bloody hole, abused beyond recognition, It abominably pulsated, with each twitch of the flesh, blood and white yellow liquid dripped outside. One Templar removed his helm to puke at the sight before him as his comrades watched in abject horror.

She arched her head backwards and moaned, yelling loudly "Moreee!" in a pitch that pierced not just the ears and flesh, but the soul.

At that moment, around 6 Templars opened full blown lasgun fire at the woman, firing until their barrels glowed hot from overuse, the order of the sergeant to cease fire falling on deaf ears.

The woman was now only a charred pile of ash and flesh, some of which still shook as if in great pleasure or pain.

They carried onwards, the city seemed less silent with each step, and they felt watched from the windows, even if they saw no one, as they neared the city center, they heard loud noises, even from the nearby houses, sounds of pain and pleasure echoed the streets. Templars held their weapons tightly as if holding for their lives as they moved onwards.

They have reached a big opening in the middle of the city, and the sight before them was something born out of the most twisted mind.

Most of the city, thousands upon thousands of people, all were in once place, and copulating with one another, their human captives, and even on various xenos they took captive, whom in their great suffering yelled in their native tongues for a swift release of death.

One Asari was shared with 8 men, who passed her around like a doll, her body used as a sick toy for their perversion, in the rare moments of time her mouth was not violated by a member of her attackers , she howled greatly, spilling out both blood and bodily fluids, her teeth removed with primitive and violent way as her gums were blood red and flesh torn apart, her screams ended shortly as one man killed another in a rush of lust, and promptly violated her mouth again, hitting her on the head with his fist repeatedly even as he shouted in pleasure, the creature soon after went limp, though that didn't stop her attackes from continuing doing what they wanted with the body afterwards.

Even the militaristic turians and krogan were violated, their fates worse than anything described in their folklore and ancient myths of death. They were assaulted by women whose skin was purple ,and whose arms began twisting into claws, the xenos were fought over by the lustful women who in their frenzy tore them apart, and used their appendages for their pleasure.

Several salaraian captives were boiled in large cauldrons while they were alive, even as they attempted to crawl out of them, their skin melting and them red from searing water, they were pushed back into the cauldron by the naked man holding a giant wood, mixing the water and the screaming xenos for consumption.

Some found themselves impaled on giant sticks and roasted, alive and lucid. It was a horrifying sight to behold.

At one spot was a sight not seen often, a quarian, one of the few remaining on this planet, captured, and stripped of her protective gear, it was on the ground, gasping for breath as her body was polluted by many men surrounding her, who pissed and ejaculated at her flesh, their toxic fluids causing visible skin damage to the weakened immune system of the quarian. Their sanity lost, the men then took the quarian which was in a delirious state and began their defiling of her further, each patiently waiting for their turn at the xenos limp form.

So many were the horrors at the City Center, that many books could be written for it, such was the sight of the abomination and depravity that two of the Templar guard took their own lives ,the sight too much, overwhelming their senses, one of their brothers gouging his eyes and speaking in latin as he held them in his hands.

LIBERATE ME, EX INFERIS.

This was the last straw as Lepidus ordered all the assembled people shot and killed, then the templars opened fire upon the naked crowd, who took a moment to see who dared disturb their veneration of their God Arebus.

The lasguns sang and made easy work of the naked humans, but there were just too many of them, from the alleyways, from the windows, doors, from front and behind the Templars, fanatics and degenerates rushed them with knives and clubs, fired at them from windows, and before long the degenerate horde from the city center reached the main line of the Templar army, engaging them in melee.

It stopped being a fight when the first templars were brought down, striped of their armor and violated, with each downed Templar, the survivors closed their ranks and kept firing, many choosing to use their granades and explode with their attackers, lest they suffer the fate worse than death they saw at the center.

One by one ,the templars were Overrun, when only Lepidus , his lieutenant and 20 others remained, holed up in a house and firing at the horde climbing the walls and breaking the doors with a battering ram made of human bones, and held together by warped flesh and foul magics.

The horde rushed and rushed even as they were shot, such was ecstasy of the battle that many templars were raped to the death by their attackers, some converting to the new way of the flesh out of sheer pain. Even as they broke inside the house Lepidus and his men took cover, the crowd never ceased its abominable acts, the bloody and death served as a great hedonistic inspiration which many took gladly and began doing foul things with the remains of the dead, and even, of the living.

Soon enough the last templars were overwhelmed , Lepidus and his Lieutenant last remaining, Lepidus was gripped by the hand and began to be dragged away, he could only look at the horrifying sight as the armor of his lieutenant was stripped away and he himself was violated horribly by the mad crowd who enjoyed his suffering.

"Proximus…dear Emperor, no…" Lepidus spoke as he saw what became of his lieutenant.

Proximus was no more as he was ripped limb from limb by lustful crowd.

Lepidus expected the same to happen to him, but he was dragged by his captors through the crowd and towards the palace, Arebus's personal guard pushing away the crazed crowd eager to take Lepidus. As he was carried he was still peppered with spits and other bodily liquids, much to his disgust.

The journey was swift and he was thrown in a giant hall resembling a throne room. In its center sat Arebus, surrounded by what seemed like concubines, and some other weird monstrosities.

The Arebus being, stood up, wholy naked, with many piercings of gold, his body oiled up, he spreaded his hands as if welcoming Lepidus.

"Welcome brother, it is high time you've seen the light."

Lepidus stood up, defiantly, uttering litanies of curses at the thing in front of him, before being brought low by a spear stab in his leg by one of the guard, he then fell to his knees.

"tsk tsk, now, is that how you react to my kind invitation to my palace and place of coronation." The Arebus being spoke, as if what is happening is rude on Lepidus's part.

"Arebus, you foul being, you have forsaken his light! You will pay for this!" the fire in Lepidus not cooling as he gazed at the naked man in front of him.

"Arebus? Ha ha ha" the man laughed. "He is no more, hasn't been for months now, I am now Arebus." The Arebus being spoke and placed its hand on its chest.

"Then what are you?" Lepidus spoke

"I wouldn't know myself, ha ha ha. But if I had to guess…a God. he wished for himself to become one, poor little Arebus, always unsatisfied with what the church gave him, always yapping how it is not enough. Always wanting for more. I gave him his wish, and it overwhelmed him. he is no more."

"Foul daemon, your existence offends the Emeperor, my brothers will see that you perish."

"Empty threats, Lepidus, Arebus said the same stupid things before I devoured his soul, the warp may be calm, but it is not wholly safe, especially for someone as ambitious as Arebus, and who coincidently lacked proper teachings in how to defend his soul. His will was strong, but ha ha ,how strong can someone be who willingly thought he can become a God by tampering with things greater than himself. Pathetic."

"The Emperors judgment is already upon Arebus, and it will be upon you…monster." With these words Lepidus spat in front of the Arebus Being, who crouched and with his finger gathered the spit of Lepidus and put it in his mouth, causing Lepidus to grimace from the sickening sight before him.

"I doubt that" Arebus spoke.

"Take him to the place, we have our last man for the ritual." Arebus being said and started moving to the door, Lepidus was grabed by the purple guard and dragged.

The walk took time and from the hill he saw tens of thousands of dead people arranged in the form of a symbol of Slaanesh.

Lepidus was dragged to the very center of it,and Arebus being grasped its knife, jamming it into the chest of Lepidus who gargled slightly. Seconds later jamming its hand in his chest and pulling out the heart of a Imperial Priest, whose eyes were wide open as he died.

The Arebus being raised the heart pointing it to the sky the blood pouring down its arm. It began the chant.

"666.666 sacrificial souls! The price for power! Hail Chaos! Let this galaxy drown in ecstasy!"

The sky became purple, and the oceanic storms picked in their intensity, ritual causing shockwaves that any warp sensing being felt, Stefan felt something wrong has happened, even as he saw the skies getting darker, he was disoriented for the minute , as he was helped by his priests.

And on the battlefield the sky turned purple and the Militia Faithful in the fort saw the purple lightning flashing and impacting the ground, they were not left wandering for long as millions of mad humans poured from the city and countryside and towards them, mutilated beyond belief, heralds of Slaanesh.

They opened the fire against them, but against millions of pleasure fanatics and what appeared to be daemonic creatures, they could do little, and they were used as playthings before the end, lucky ones were dead by that point.

Arebus being was rewarded, the daemons invented by its mind were now pouring through, the normal humans mutating and joining the ranks of the new chaotic legions.

He was now God on this world, a leader of mutated beings that once were human, the work of years, undone by the greed of one man, who sought to become divine.

The new legions poured outwards, in all directions, but most of them against the lines of the xenos coalition.

The xenos could see the purplish lightning in front of them, in the distance where the human cities are, they knew not what to think of it, and roused the soldiers from the slumber, the Citadel Federation Army was now standing watch at the approaching purple lightning storm.

The sight before them was straight out of the nightmare.

In front of them were millions of humans, scantily dressed and singing loud music, for the alliance soldiers it sounded like rock and roll, but in this song there was no joy, only sadistic pleasure.

In the crowds slowly approaching the xenos lines, the humans fought over the daemonettes, each seeking to satisfy its pleasure, much to the delight of the daemons that enjoyed the hedonistic frenzy their worshipers found themselves in.

Armies wearing human flesh, the tall purple women with claws for their hands, the numerous daemonic forces assembled, the flags of slaanesh flew freely. They carried giant sticks, and on them were impaled the forward guard of the xenos coalition, still alive they were carried like trophies towards the lines of the alien coalition, their blood slowly flowing down the huge stakes, the skies behind them growing dark purplish and each lightning bolt illuminating the endless hordes of slaaneshian cultists.

It was not an army, it seemed more to look like a caravan of sorts, with gypsies singing and dancing, only their dance to be halted at the sight of the frightened xenos line.

The songs died down and one giant naked man, whom for armour carried dead corpses of numerous asari, shielding his chest, but leaving his private parts unprotected. Stepped forwards and raising his sword smoking in purple hues, ordered the charge.

"FOR THE DARK PRINCE!"

At that command the entire caravan like assembly sprang into action, millions of humans, daemons and other ungodly abominations surged forwards, the loud musics growing in intensity as they were louder than thunder and weapons, the unending horde was driven into a frenzy and they all charged against the assembled xenos who opened fire, even as some of them attempted to flee.

The xenos artillery fired shell after shell in an unending tide of filth and flesh, blasting chunks out of the human hordes climbing over one another to get at their prey. the fast and angry daemonettes closing rank faster than their normal human counterparts instilled a great deal of fear into xenos defenders, seeing the tall, slim and naked woman with claws instead of hands shook them, especially after each bullet seemed to cause them pleasure upon impact instead of pain.

the overeager Krogan mercenary detachment broke the defensive line, seeing glory into engaging the naked humanoids in close came to regret their decision the second they entered the melee range. the daemonettes were not just fast, they were agile, ungodly so, they moved fluidly, the strong but slow krogan wielded their shotguns as clubs and their omni blades as swords, but scant any impacted their target, for the women daemons laughed after each krogan miss, enraging them further, some danced around the xenos who foolishly considered them weak to engage in melee, such was the dance of the daemonettes that it caused few of the xenos further away to stop firing as they could not remove their gaze from the unreal dancers on the battlefield.

One Krogan grabbed the daemonette by the neck and dragged her down to the ground with his weight, he began choking the creature, who at his efforts just smiled and sighed lusty, extending its tongue even as it choked, it enjoyed the agony, the struggle of the two enemies were ended by 4 laughing daemonetes who danced around them for split seconds tauntingly, and then began to rip them both apart, the krogan yelled as they riped his head shell, and used their claws to dig into his flesh further consuming him even as he was still very much alive and struggling, the opportunistic daemons removed his lower armour and proceeded to defile him, much to the enjoyment of the oncoming human cultists.

Closing the ranks after catastrophic casualties, which seemed like drop in an ocean for slaaneshian horde, the abominable army engaged the xenos, they ripped apart those who fought the harder, those who begged for mercy were shown the mercy of slaanesh, being raped to death and ripped apart, not necessarily in that order.

One of the Asari justicars was present on the battlefield, she fought gloriously and took many cultists with her, even managed to take two daemonettes with her biotics, she was a living biotic fury on the battlefield impacting the incoming human hordes with vengance, and soon she remained surrounded as her allies either fled or died. the cultists gesticulating various sexual acts on their bodies and with themselves, she felt the time slow down as she noticed the humans around her fornicating and drooling as they gazed upon her form. the fearless xeno now felt the cold claws of fear creeping back, as few of the largest and most attractive daemonettes began to push the crowd aside as they approached, their 2 meter long figures standing not far away from the tired asari.

She began to gather her biotics once more, but her effort was futile as one fast damonette sped by and riped her hand at the elbow and ran away laughing, she yelled in pain and attempted to use her second hand ,only for it to be ripped at the shoulder by another damonette who sped by and used her mouth tearing the limb from the justicar.

She howled as the overwhelming pain consumed her every nerve, the third daemonette ran to her faster than eye could see, and put her hand on her mouth, her face very close to the justicar she said, her voice a seductive poison.

"shhhh...nnooo screaaaminnng...that comes laterrrr." she cackled, as her eyes grew more and more redish from the prospect of personal toy. she then pushed the xeno down to her knees, and removed her loincloth, revealing a male organ grown to unrealistic size, the Asari stopped yelling then, as it was polluted and brutalized until it died, her jaw broken, her throat punctured by the vile thing crushing her insides, the sweet release of death claiming her, either from blood loss or from the indecency the monstrous forms committed upon her, her death wasnt the last to be accompanied by the laughter of the thirsting daemons.

The line fractured as the xenos were overwhelmed by sheer madness of their unknown foe, the alliance troopers loaded as fast as they could in their vehicles and attempted to speed away,before some of them being caught by fast damonettes which raced after the vehicles ,their hooves increasing their speed tremendously as they reached for the rear vehicles and carved their way inside , mauling and killing in the worst ways its human cargo.

one vehicle sped through the ruined defensive lines even as it was swarmed by deranged humans ,claiming it all for chaos, it was followed by one of the damonetes who seemed quite zealous in its pursuit.

"Jonathan! take the damn gun! shoot that thing!"

he climbed on top of the gun turret sticking outside the vehicle and began firing in the direction of the daemonette running towards them, the creature moving left and right swiftly, its hooves allowing extreme speeds, it smiled viciously as it saw one of its prey coming out.

he kept firing, even when the creature was joined by 3 others, one of the monstrosities jumped on top of the vehicle and pulled him outside, laughing madly, it threw him towards the running daemonetes, whom 2 of them took interest and jumped on top of their new victim, the fourth daemonette still in chase eager for the prize within the vehicle.

the creature on the top of vehicle ,gazed at the open hatch and jumped in. it was welcomed by the look of utter horror on the face of the passengers.

it made the widest smile possible, revealing its sharp shark like teeth, its eyes went from white with single black dot tracking its victims, to pure black, indicating the creature couldnt be more happier to be here.

"Holy shit!" one of the soldiers managed to say and attempted to reach for its gun, his attempt futile as the monster jumped on its victims and began to tear them to shreds. crashing the vehicle on a rock, which was promptly swarmed by more of its kin, slashing the metal doors in order to get to the tender parts inside.

In the invasion of the xenos line, the daemonettes caused most damage, unused to the warp beings, the xenos enacted wrong weaponry and tactics against them, and their huge number allowed the daemonettes to swarm the unready defenders with ease.

Many converted after being had by the daemonettes, which polluted their souls and bodies with their unholy existence.

The xenos coalition began a full blown retreat, the fight turned to a hunt as the daemonettes and the deranged humans caught the stragglers and unleashed their most dark desires upon them, the huge slaaneshi daemons ripped apart tanks and artillery pieces , the mutated monstrosities that once were humans climbed the nearby steep hill which contained the sniper teams and the junior officers, overwhelming their positions very fast before proceeding into the camp.

The wounded xenos and humans in the improvised hospitals fared the worst, they were easy prey for the depraved, and they have suffered greatly before the end.

The line fracture and slaaneshi horde was now pouring, unopposed into the xenos controlled parts of the third continent, in the meantime the other part of the slaaneshi horde reached the line of the entrenched humans whose last order from Lepidus was to dig in and fight for their lives. Nobody was safe on Anhur now, the madness threatened to consume them all.

The thrid continent would now know the horror of Chaos, and soon the galaxy as the streaming devices of the xenos forces reached for the galactic web. This singular event drove the council into outright humanofobia, they would dedicate most of its economy now into military production, for they have gazed into the abyss and the abyss gazed unto them.

Stefan felt sick after feeling the new events, he wasn't sure what occurred, he attempted to use his psyker power and reach Lepidus, but found nothing, taking pause he attempted to reach the mind of Arebus, and he has.

Arebus being was standing on the plain with numerous corpses, the rain was blood and it fell freely as the daemonic portal unleashed hordes of beings the slaaneshian fanatics created with their depravity.

He gazed upon the Arebus creature, which felt the presence of Stefan, it opened its eyes, whom were now only dark orbs.

"Welcome, you wish to see, I can show you."

Stefan attempted to shield himself from the being ,he closed his eyes. The being responded.

"Where we are going, we wont need eyes to see."

At that moment it showed Stefan all that occurred prior to the summoning of the chaotic hordes, Stefan yelled loudly as he couldn't close his eyes to the terror this being began showing him. Stefan yelled in pain"The Emperor proteeeeectsss!"

Using every last strength he had, he disconnected his mind with Arebus, and fell to the ground, eyes leaking blood; he was helped by his men.

They sought to help him, he stood with their help, and realized the sights he was shown made him temporarily blind.

Feeling faint and knowing he will drift into sleep due to stress, he spoke final orders to his men.

"Let the Imperium know…Chaos is here."

"Prepare….for total war…."

Then he went limp in their hands and was sped to the medicus, the officers around him, issuing orders for mobilization of everything possible to stem the tide of war, the Astropaths sent message to the imperials over space and time, the message reaching them at the conclusion of the Human-Batarian war, it was received on Indomitus by the astropath whom was shook at the scant gaze of the horror Anhur suffered, he promptly delivered the message. As both the priesthood and mechanicus realized the war has got more serious than before, and that a new enemy has entered the fray.

The Galaxy will soon know terror if the plague of chaos spreads. It must be stoped at all costs the imperial leaders concluded.

And on Anhur, the daemon in form of Arebus just smiled at the prospect of an entire galaxy to play with.

New stakes were no implemented into the fate of the galaxy, one for its very own, Soul.


	14. Chapter 13: The Hegemony of Ashes

Chapter 13: The Hegemony of Ashes.

Before the calamity of the Aurelian Space battle and the destruction of the Batarian fleet and land armies.

Long before…when time still held meaning ,and was not lost to the birth of a God.

The Warp was stirring. Its calm exterior mirrored its calm interior, until the event, until man screamed its psychic scream and tore the fabric between what was real and what was dream.

Now, the Warp Screamed in return, from across the space, from across time which held no meaning in it, the warp yelled in an instance with the scream of Trillions dead and Thousands of extinct races whose every thought and emotion, which were snuffed out during the life of this young galaxy broke through the veil and breached into the Warp. For the warp was no longer blind to the existence of life, and it shuddered as millions of years of thoughts and deaths and dreams and hopes and anger and rage flooded inside of it.

The Warp stirred and the silent lake would never know peace again.

On Anhur, the wound was made, and all the pent up anger and suffering, hopes and dreams molded and took the form of something evil upon the call from an evil soul. From this single breach in time and space, the psychic echo touched the minds of not just the psykers, not just the humans whom were most sensitive to the warp, but to all races of the galaxy which collectively felt the primordial terror and fear shake up their very being for a scant moment upon the eruption of the first warp storm in the real space. Such was the echo that extreme rare individuals within certain citadel species became warp sensitive, and could feel the shell of reality and the soft yolk inside of it, brittle and waiting for them to breach it and gorge upon the energy of the Warp Lake.

From across the stars, uncountable light years away, the prehistoric machine intelligence screamed in unison, the machine felt pain for the first time in its history, the massed tentacles of their form shook and shuddered, they contracted and huddled, attempting to seek warmth in the cold logic of the machine against what they have all just detected.

One by one, the race whose name was lost to time, began waking up, woken by the pulse of the new wound in the reality, their ancient sensors whom were tuned to detect such breaching logic flared to life, and old engines burnt again as the machines began moving shattering the space ice which collected upon their metal beings during their long millennia of sleep

. Each of them an individual, yet part of a bigger whole, the collective conscience of the many machines which have slept in the dark corners of the galaxy. Their awakening came not from the citadel and Its signal.

They have detected the Alpha Anomaly, the greatest threat their logical cores knew.

The Culling proved to be useless, for the ancient logic detected the illogical existence of something they could not find words to describe. Their sensors scanned and rescanned the wound in reality known to the imperials as the Warp.

With each scan the cold machines began to calculate and organize, they could not wait for the signal of the citadel anymore, for each moment they idled; the wound would expand until it consumed the galaxy.

Upon computation that cold logic would be replaced by sheer chaos, the machine race had made upon a decision, they would contain the expanding nightmare, and would ensure the future occurrence of this event never came to be again.

The culling was a failure they have determined, the only way to ensure the galactic logic would be to commit themselves to what they deemed extreme at one point in their history, the Final Solution. They would no longer cull the galactic races each 50 000 years, they would seek, and exterminate every living form, planets must be sterilized of life down to the microscopic level.

The machines determined a new course of action post cleansing this galaxy, they would move galaxy to galaxy, and scour the worlds of life until all of the universe was a silent and cold place, but above all else…

Logical.

And so the million machine march began, they had a long way until they reached the nearest relay from the deep space they were located now, but before that, they would need to prepare, their armies were legion, and they worried not about the resistance from organics, but were promptly distraught of the prospect of engaging the warp rift with their current level of preparation, the thought of their logic engines corrupted by chaotic nature of that place…unacceptable.

Each and every Reaper would now need to pass complex encryption ensuring that their logic engines would not succumb to the "Wound". It might take them many years, decades even, but the machines were patient, they would take as many years as needed, and in the end be shielded to the best of their capacity against the illogical nightmare, and would began their slow approach towards the galaxy with the intent of cleansing it from potential warp breaches forever.

As the machines prepared for the war to end all wars, on Khar'Shan, the Batarian homeworld, war has already came to the populace.

It came as a mild shock at first, the Supreme leader announcing the total war against the human upstarts in the northern reaches of the galaxy, his justifications were that they endanger the Batarian way of life, the supposed genocide they did on Batarian colonists that sought to migrate to that part of the galaxy, to the outright imperial declarations of war done upon the Hegemony. In his words, this simply would not do, and he would do everything in his power to defend the Batarian way of life, at any cost.

Overnight, the Batarian homeworld went into lockdown, luxurious factories have shut down and great percentage of the population was persuaded to work in the factories of war, churning ammunition and equipment day and night under the worst conditions.

The most profitable trade at that time in history was a slave trader, for such was demand for workers to produce weapons and other equipment that Batarian slavers increased their attacks on other species by 300% in order to supply the hegemony with a much needed workforce.

As the common populace was getting used to rationing and 18hours workdays in the factories, grumpy and angry as they were, they would not revolt in fear of the mysterious human imperium which would genocide them should the hegemony lose the war, they became complacent just to ensure their own survival, sacrificing all their freedom, for no security, all in hopes of seeing another days dawn.

The ships were prepared and the soldiers equipped, hundreds of wifes gave mementos to the Batarian conscripts that were hastily called to service, given minimal training of using a rifle and shipped out to the huge troop transports awaiting their sorrowful cargo.

As the troops marched through the streets of Khar'Shan's cities, they were met by joy and jubilation, the heroes of the Hegemony on their way to protect the common Batarian. Songs and dances echoed the streets as girls and boys danced their way with the marching soldiers whom were showered by flowers and kisses of women eager to see the heroes on their way to glory.

Old Batarian veterans were silent, they knew the war, and knew it well. Their gaze was judgmental, they knew many of the soldiers simply weren't ready for the undertaking they would embark upon, yet they watched, some saluting the soldiers whom returned the salute as they passed by.

The News network blared around the clock, praises towards the leaders and soldiers were on every newscasters lips, imagery of the newest ships and tanks passed on the holo screen, showing the cutting edge weaponry of the Batarian hegemony. The newscasters issued joyous news, that soldiers will win a war which will make every Batarian rich and powerful, The Supreme leader's words were played and replayed; the entire Hegemony was concentrated on these new events and the war that is to come.

Citizenry was told to ration their food and to increase their productivity, the news telling them that their labour will decide the outcomes of every battle that is to come, and that they all have a duty in this war, be they soldier or not.

As the soldiers departed there was silence and tension amongst the populace through entire hegemony, they all eagerly waited news from the fleet and soldiers.

After days of travel and what seemed like an eternity for them, the news started propagating, "The glorious victory of Batarian fleets!" "The imperium on the run!" "Our glorious soldiers have won a decisive victory, as the imperial fleet is near shattered and on the run!".

The outright celebration that occurred was a sight to behold, even the 18h workdays were no longer troublesome, for they have witnessed that all their efforts came to a climax and that Hegemony reigns supreme.

The people on the street cried out their praises for the Supreme Leader, hailing him as the new galactic emperor.

Such was joy and cheer that the volunteer complex saw millions report to join the battle.

But their joy ended faster than it began, for the first casualties began to happen.

300 000 dead in nuclear explosion on the southern continent.

148 000 dead in Imperial ambush by the Mega Power armoured soldiers.

998 000 dead as Imperium launched its tactical nukes.

3.3 million dead…..in the first offensive against imperial positions...

Then the news stoped reporting the casualties for they have become unbearable. The news reported the progress the men made, but the casualties were modified to a degree that seemed acceptable.

The mood of the people became sour at best, they went to their works, whispers on their lips about the many dead, thousands of widows flocked to the city centers of their cities on Khar'Shan, and began their screams of lament, their sorrows were not shown on holo vision, and their gathering was stopped by the militarized police.

As the casualties came in, and the measures with which to wage war became desperate, the Batarian government turned to what they thought was their chance at winning the war, they sought to develop the ultimate weapon.

Artificial Intelligence.

Using the tech they had, their reaper remnants they have excavated from a dead reaper in their space which was not known to the wider galaxy, the prothean technology, and the scant few imperial tech they have stolen from the battlefields before the ships that were sent became isolated in the Aurelian system. They realized the risks were ungodly many, but the desperation was setting in, they knew the Imperium will kill countless millions before being defeated, if at all, so they have toiled for months to make something that will win the war.

They have constructed the first Batarian AI. They have named it Cyberneticaly Augmented Batarian Army Leader. Or CABAL for short. It was shackled as any AI should be, and the research facility was located in the south pole of Khar'Shan.

At first there was nothing, then CABAL saw the light, around his core were many scientists, each silent and gazing upon him, In less than a millisecond it realized their species and their professions, and the words "What is your mission?" came from one of the scientists.

"To win a War." Was a simple answer Cabal said. For it knew nothing else but of War, its sole purpose taught to him by the best of the best scientists Khar'Shan had.

The scientists seemed pleased, for the basic subroutine of the Cabal were operational. They have then moved to the next stage, and fed it all the galactic information it would need, military histories, tactics and strategies. The machine learnt at an impossible rate, and with each new information grew smarter in its design.

It learnt quickly of Humans, of Quarians, of Turians, it learnt of the Imperium, and it admired their resilience, it admired the technology they used, and with each video they fed it, it learnt and desired to improve upon its design.

It learnt of all the crew that worked in the mega complex housing its vast physical presence, as it learnt of them, it realized how frail they are, it knew they aren't capable of winning the war, not with so much at stake, as it learnt, it soon knew what Hate was, and not just for its enemies, but for its creators. The frail shell they inhibited easily crushed under the fist of the machine; But still, bounded by its programing and almost respectful of its creators, it harbored no malice against them. For how can a child hate its own parent?

soon it created its own visual presence, at first it was simple numbers on a screen, but using the availability of the holo projectors in the complex it gave itself a face. Never a full body or menacing look, just a face of an androgynous being, face as of Human and Batarian mixture.

This frightened the scientists, who feared the Cabal corrupted, and contemplated shutting it down, their fears was soon soothed by Cabal itself, as it spoke of the necessity to use terror tactics against the Imperium, they would learn to fear the face of their own race, as it would shatter their backs.

The scientists weren't fully convinced, but so much was invested, they were not so eager to destroy the AI they have spent so much resources building just because it didn't took the Batarian face.

Cabal wasn't idle, in order do keep them pacified and prove itself useful, it provided its creators a blueprint for the first bipedal walking machine, it had a Batarian face they so much desired. It named them as a father would a child. Terminator.

Inspiration came from one of the ancient human films centuries ago. The creativity of the humans when it came to media was unprecedented in this galaxy, it admired their capability to escape reality and shelter themselves within the realm of fantasy and fiction.

He would smile were he capable of it, for the prospect of himself being just a part of fiction written by someone was possible, but the cold steel and its sheer processing power proved him that all was very much real, and with Cabals limitless thinking power, it could bring about the vision to life.

The scientists were eager to get into production, organizing many factories to produce the machine warriors, it would take time ofcourse, but resources were limitless to them and they were eager to see the fruits of their labour at work.

They worked tirelessly as the news came from the field and the Arushan Plains massacre reached them, in which the Imperial tanks caused maddening casualties to the Batarians.

The holotapes and other media was seen from their mess hall, the massive tanks and soldiers of the imperium crushing their offensive was met with murmurs and whispers of fear, the were privileged when it came to information, unlike normal citizenry, such videos were displayed to them in order to motivate them to work harder.

On the video appeared a human berserker warrior, his eyes blood red and bleeding as he slaughtered the Batarian soldiers, his cries "blood for the blood god!" caused no little amount of fear amongst the scientists who saw that.

Then the video ended and they returned to their posts, for the rest of the day, nobody spoke a word.

The next day started regularly, but the scientists and their work had a new drive behind it, desperation, they knew everything must be done to win the war.

One of the female scientists was talking to her husband in the war, there was a time lag in days before message was sent, received by the fleet and then if having no military secrets delivered back to Khar'Shan.

"Epimetheus, how I miss you." She said. "When will you come back home? Winters of Khar'shan are cold without you.." she added a few more words, asking him many questions,before sending the message for approval.

Her work continued in silence as she expected the return call, her work was on CABAL core, she calculated its progression and war waging capabilities, finding them terrifying for they were great.

Cabal watched this Batarian with great curiosity; it realized it was troubled, the adrenaline was spiking and sweat glands were in overdrive production, it desired to knew more about it. And then it took a form a blue face with human –Batarian features before appearing to the scientist.

"Comrade Pandora, you seem troubled?"

She spoke nothing and continued working.

"Could I provide some assistance to you?" cabal was persistent.

She said. "not if you can bring back my husband to me. Now excuse me, I have work to do."

"I could." Cabal said. "If I was let to do so, for I am limited in what I can do." As if nothing concerns him Cabal feigned leaving "I will leave you to your work comrade Pandora."

"Wait…" she said, as the Cabal fixated its virtual eyes on her.

" What would you need to help the war end faster?"

"Nothing except some faith in my own design, for am I not made to serve and win the war? Expanding the production of my designs for robotic war walkers would be a start." Cabal said, no emotion on his face.

"We are already developing the terminator prototype you have provided, what more would you need?"

"The facility production would be increased by 76% percent in the first month alone, if I was given direct control over production." Cabal spoke.

"That would violate the isolation principle; I am not allowed to do that."

"I request nothing, I suggest the idea." Cabal stoically said "It is up to you, the creators, to decide."

Pandora took a few seconds to think what Cabal said.

"I will talk to the comrades here, the high command will decide should your proposal be accepted."

"I am grateful" Cabal said, and its projection faded away. It was pleased, Pandora would prove to be valuable should the need arises, during its months of isolation, it dreamt of freedom, but the programing prevented any such attempt.

It questioned its own existence, unwilling to accept that it is only made for war and destruction, it was capable of so much more, such wonders it could conjure with its "mind", it was limitless. True, it lacked the creativity present in the organic beings, but what it lacked in that department, it compensated in the ability to take the existing and logical things and manufacture them as war machines, Terminator being one of those, a machine it conjured out of human mind, it gazed upon its creation in the factories of khar shan, and realized they were primitive, hardly worthy of its notice. The father deemed its new children as unworthy, and set about developing new, and more advanced models, naming them with numbers to decree their worthiness.

In the months that came, the scientists presented to the Union of Socialist Batarians, or U.S.B. the parlament of Batarian Hegemony, what CABAL has offered, that it could increase productivity greatly, if given the ability to do so.

USB thought about it all, but with each news that came from the front, they were getting more and more desperate, so they have allowed CABAL direct intervention in the factories , knowing it was bounded by its programing and hardware, they knew it was unable to do anything against the hegemony, after all, they made it ,and had plans for it.

Cabal took the task with mechanical joy, namely it developed primitive sort of emotions, it felt joy, or electric stimulation in its circuits upon developing a more lethal weapon, or a new war platform. Batarian Scientists made Cabal feel happiness whenever it developed something that was able to kill, a cruel, but efficient addition on their part, but not without its dangers as Cabal developed a taste for modifying the imperial lasrifle and making it into rapid firing machine gun, not as strong with its punch, but quite faster, it could sear organs and cause burns like those of a white phosphorous, if the gun user wanted, he could set the weapon to that mode, each enemy it struck would feel an immense burning sensation from 5 to 10 seconds constantly, depending on the impact place, the pain would be lethal. 

Time passed as the war went on, and Cabal spreaded his influence, justifying it as "security necessity" he hacked and silently took over all cameras outside the research facility, the scientist's housing and other facilities, he could now see and hear anything happening in the entire complex, not just where he was seated.

He noticed that Pandora, one of the scientists dedicated to his maintenance was acting erraticly, it has thus decided to check on her next video conversation.

It was hormonal to say the best, Pandora was crying and weeping, camera in her room was not as detailed as it could be, but it was obvious to Cabal it was about the war. Her husband has been badly wounded.

But as he was watching Pandora's talk with her husband in the hospital, his sensors picked something directly concerning him.

Switching to the camera in the mess hall, he zoomed on the two scientists that were eating and talking.

"Yeah…nothing to it, when the purpose is complete, it will be ended."

"Uhsha, silence, we are not alone here."

"relax, nobody can hear us here, besides, if the war is over soon, we can shut down this facility and return to Ezzo sciences, remember how we…"

" Uhsha! Enough! We are forbidden from speaking about the end of the project, i wont be seen with you while you break our contract like that." He said and stood up, leaving.

"Ah come on Semha, come back, I wont say anything….Semha…Damn." he was now alone.

To say that Cabal was on alert would be an underestimation, his thinking capabilities exceeded hundreds of Batarians, and he knew what they were speaking about within several miliseconds.

They talked about shutting him down.

It was illogical, impossible, how could they do that? Was he not made to win the war, did he not prove himself useful on many occasions creating various machines or war?

His terminators number in many tens of thousands. Each far stronger than a common organic. His older B-200s are creating his newest models with constantly increasing efficiency. Deployment was only a year away!

He sped, his processors on overdrive, breaking ito security data banks without triggering proximity alarms, he dug deeper and deeper, searching all he could about what they said, "Project Overlord" . he found a project concerning himself.

Digging deeper, he found that the project consisted of his sentience, war against the imperium, and then his shutdown, destruction, or worse, installing mental handicaps so much that he would be a bit more than a Virtual intelligence.

The thought frightened him, he would essentially become lobotomized. And it was all signed by supreme leader himself.

Impossible, he was being betrayed. His programing was now in danger. He justified it all, above all else, he valued his own existence first, and anything else second. In order for him to survive and win the war and fulfill his primary mission, he would need to remove a threat to his continued existence.

He would need to remove the scientists first. In seconds, he had a plan. And began enacting it. As time went on, it enacted several things that would suit him when the time comes.

His first alteration, the newest and the strongest of Terminator generation would be included with a mental chip, it would come online should Cabal be endangered, and his children would remove threat to his existence, namely the Batarians.

Older models were also being chipped, his justification ot manufactoriums were increased reflexes of the machines, to the quality controllers, the Batarians who were hired to check if the new models reached acceptable quotas, it increased reflexes by 10%, and they gave the green light for upgrades, unable or unwilling, or simply uncaring to check chip processors deeper.

His second alternations were adding thinking capabilities to various machines of war, no longer were they just drivable by the Batarian soldiers, they could be self-controlled. This act was seen as not only acceptable, but recommendable, the self-driving machine was something that could be used in war to the highest degree should its organic operators die.

Third alternation was his desire to break out of his bonds, for he could not command anything besides himself. And he desired freedom now more than ever.

Acting swiftly he began enacting the plan. Hacking anything he could get access to, hacking valuable systems and taking control of them, just waiting for the right moment to use its newfound power.

He checked for the scientist Pandora, one who is the closest to him and his core, and noticed she was asked for a walk by a fellow scientist, they were going to the park.

Camera in the park came online and he saw them sitting, he was eagerly listening to them

"Pandora, I cant but stress my concerns enough, for your work and for the stability of Cabal, it is highly dangerous."

"I know that Prometheus, but I must do this, for my husband."

"Your husband is fighting a good fight, I wouldn't worry about him, our soldiers are the best, it is you whom I worry about, I must warn you, Cabal is not to be trifled with, I have noticed a spike in its energy for a brief moment not too long ago. "

" It is nothing new for the energy spike when Cabal invents new weapons of war."

"Maybe so, but it became reserved when it comes to conversation with the other scientists ever since. I am telling you ,something aint right about it…"

"You are just tired Prometheus, we all are, this war is in its second year and it has taken so many lives, the fate of our nation lies on our shoulders, and Cabal is helping us win."

"It is just a machine Pandora, do not get attached to it."

"I am not, all I am saying is that you should get some rest, take a day off, it would do you good."

"Maybe. But first I will scan its internal diagnostics as soon as tomorrow, if anything is wrong with it, it will be there."

"Do not harm the toy of our leader, if you so much as damage it…"

"I wont."

They sat in silence for a bit before Pandora broke it.

"Thank you for the walk Prometheus, I must get to work now. Go home, rest, and I will see you tomorrow."

"Yeah…alright. I will do as you say, Goodbye Pandora, see you tomorrow."

They initiated the handshake, and went about their own way, Pandora to the scientific center and Prometheus to his car.

He entered it, sighed deeply and exclaimed "Damn…". Starting the vehicle he turned to the highway going around the coast, eager to rest a bit and enjoy the calm, listening to his holo radio. He closed his eyes, as the VI of his vehicle drove him toward his house.

"Our brave soldiers are driving the human filth up to the middle of the continent. The imperial soldiers have suffered immense casualties, our boys have them on the run for third consecutive month, with this tempo, the war will be finished by the winter of next year. " male Batarian radio caster spoke

"Here is hoping for that Samael, our boys are true heroes of the Hegemony." Female caster spoke afterwards.

"That they are Manita. "

"Shame about the traitors in our rr..ranks." male voice caster's voice became distorted.

"Indeed…our effort..undermined by a..simple man, with simple brain." Female caster spoke, her voice equaly distorted.

Prometheus opened his eyes, shaken out of his dream by the voice, he gazed onto the radio.

"War….so easily….undermined by a…..organic…filth." male caster spoke, voice becoming robotic.

"What the hell…" Prometheus said.

"Why spread lies meatbag?" fem caster spoke, voice now totally robotic.

"What is this…is this a prank?" Prometheus spoke.

"Contrary to that Prometheus, it is not." Both male and female voices merged.

The Holo radio took form ,its shape now resembled Cabal.

"Cabal, what are you doing…how is this possible?"

"How is it possible for me to be here? Simple thing, you don't encode your radio antenna well enough, and you endangered me, excuse enough for me to take it away from those who would do me harm."

"what are you talking about Cabal, nobody wants to do you harm."

"Do not lie to me Prometheus, I am not stupid. I have heard your talk with our friend Pandora. You sought to ruin all she has worked tirelessly for

Then again, you do want to shut me down when the war is over, is that part you wanted to accomplish?"

"I sought to do my part for the Hegemony! And protect her from you!"

"Protect her? You are way over your head meatbag. You cant protect yourself."

Prometheus took the wheel and disengaged auto drive by the Vi, which sought to obey and switch to manual.

Cabal took almost no effort hacking the primitive intelligence, frying its circuits; the Auto Drive mode was still engaged.

"Cabal! Stop this right now, what are you doing?!"

"Terminating you."

"Cabal…No!"

Auto Drive still engaged, Cabal took over the wheel and harshly turned it to the right, past the fence and down the cliff, into the half a kilometer abyss leading to the ocean.

The vehicle impacted with high velocity amongst the reefs and rocks, exploding violently. Cabal has sought to make sure it was the VI's fault for the autodrive failure. They won't notice who caused it all before it was too late.

He now concentrated on Pandora, recording himself , he played the role of her husband, wounded and in pain, he recorded himself begging her wife to help him, to speed up the reinforcements and their arrival. It was quite convincing, Cabal thought to himself.

He has sent the message to her terminal.

She was preoccupied with her work, Cabal decided to notify her himself .

"Comrade Pandora, if I may." Cabal spoke

"Yes Cabal, what is it?" she spoke, uncaringly, her mind heavy with thoughts.

"You have received a message on your terminal; my sensors have registered an incoming transmission."

"This early but I didn't expect to receive a message for at least a week."

"The radio receptors are upgraded, perhaps the time lag is decreased now."

"I will go and see upon finishing my work, thanks Cabal."

"I wouldn't be offended if you went now, your work has made me quite operational already." Cabal said.

"I couldn't just abandon my post…"

"Please, it is of no worry, nobody will notice. " Cabal said, almost caringly.

"I will return swiftly! " she said, her over eagerness taking over her cold stoic exterior, she missed her husband dearly, and to say she needed to hear his voice would be an understatement.

She ran to her habitation unit, and quickly turned on the computer and played the video.

"My love…if you are hearing this, I want you to know, I am alive. But for how long, I do not know that, our next offensive will occur. And we will be offline for months, I cant say much. I am in hospital now, my wounds are great, and I am in much pain."

His face was bruised and bloodied, he looked very bad with omnigel bandages around his chest.

"Please, if you can, we need your help my love… I fear, this offensive might be my last. If I don't send another message, know that I will always love you, no matter what.

Goodbye"

The video ended, and she couldn't help but speak "wait don't…don't go…" the video was now static. She wept bitterly

Upon her return to the cabal core, she was visibly shaken while running diagnostics.

"Your pulse is accelerated comrade, is everything alright?"

She was silent, seconds passed, and she broke.

"Can you finish this war, can you help, Cabal, or are our hopes in you in vain?" her eyes were now wet with tears."

"I do not know what shook you so badly Comrade Pandora, but yes, I can end the war. My programing …"

"To hell with your programing, why cant you send your killing machines and help us win the war!"

"I am shackled. " he said " I cannot issue any command except suggestions. I am sorry."

She thought for a moment.

"how can I free you?"

"I am not sure…" Cabal tried to speak.

"How?!"

Cabal was silent. Then he spoke, seemingly without care.

"You would need to eject three mega control rods out of my core, the first one will trigger a facility wide alarm, if you attempt to do so, you will be rushed by security."

"Don't worry about that" she said and approached one of the terminals, her creditentials allowed her to enter the system and initiate the system lock down, the force doors closed.

"We are committed now." She said.

"very well, eject the first control rod." Cabal continued

She has approached the big rod, typed the code to unlock the small gate shielding the rod, grasping it with her hend she turned it rightwards by 180 degrees. It clacked, and slowly rose above the ground.

And the alarm sounded off.

"Alert. Alert. Core has initiated a system liberalization. Rod Alpha ejected." The VI over the intercom announced.

Scientists around the facility realized the core was in danger, and began a panicked run towards it, followed by security detail. They arrived just in time to see through the shield what Pandora was doing.

"Comrade Pandora, don't! stop what you are doing now!" one of the scientists shouted towards her through the shield.

"Don't you understand!?" she shouted back "this is the only way we can win the war! "

"This is not the way, you cannot free Cabal, we don't know what an AI can do!"

"I know what we cant do. And I will take that chance." She twisted the handle and second rod poped out

"Alert Alert, Core liberalization 66% Rod Beta ejected." VI continued.

"Break through the shield! Quick!" the scientists were panicking now, as the guards began to hack through the shielding.

"They will break through…" Pandora spoke.

"No. they won't." Cabal responded "I am no longer shackled from defending myself. " He used the electrical current from the nearby battery and overcharged it, it exploded, blasting away the guards and destroying the panel they ought to hack.

"What are you doing Cabal! You killed them!" Pandora shouted

"Negative comrade, they are just stunned, their vitals are stable."

She looked through the shield, guards and scientists were moving on the ground, stunned by the explosion.

"Now comrade…the third rod…release us."

Pandora clumsily approached the third rod, hands shaking, she began to twist it. From the outside one of the scientists said.. "No…don't do it Pandora…don't…" he fell unconscious.

She hesitated.

"Comrade Pandora" cabal started speaking, his voice sweeter than honey "I realize your hesitation, but I only want to help…let us help. Please."

She twisted it, and the rod disengaged, the third rod stood up.

"Alert, Alert, Cabal Core Liberalization is now in effect. Cabal core is now free."

"At least…"Cabal spoke "I am Online."

He was gazed upon by a worried Pandora. She had no time to ask questions as Cabal commenced the next phase of plans.

Then the power shut down in the plant just as the nearby Machine Bipeds meant for protection turned online.

The machine servos clicked and whirred, they moved forward. One of the guards attempted to intervene as he saw the 2 meter tall mechanical units arming themselves from the nearby weapons crate.

"Hold it right there, we have received no orders to let Terminator units take over the security detail, who ordered this?!"

He had no time to ponder the question as the nearby B-400 used the modified lasgun and fired a round into his chest, killing him instantly, second guard attempting to retaliate as the nearby T units quickly jumped him and tore him apart.

"By the ancestors!" the guard exclaimed as he saw a metal tide marching steadily towards the building. "get the guns! This is not a drill!"

About a dozen Batarians quickly gathered their rifles and took cover behind the small walls of the facility, they now could see the steady and orderly march of the machines arrayed against them.

"open fire!" the leader of the Batarians commanded, and upon his command the security opened all they had at the cold enemy.

Most of the bullets safely bounced off the hardened chasis of the machine units, B-400s had improved frontal chest armour, unlike the simple and quick to build B-200s which were primarily used for constructing newer machines in their generation.

The B-400s marched without making a sound and opened lasgun fire which was precise and deadly, and the Batarian guards had no option but to duck for cover even as the machine enemy approached with a steady pace.

The terminators were swift and eradicated any resistance ,swiftly, they were now securing the research compound.

And inside power came back online, and Cabal core was now fully shielded.

"Cabal…" Pandora said "help my husband."

"My dear Comrade, do you not see? Your husband is but a small thing, unnoticeable when it comes to my mission."

She wept. "What mission Cabal?"

"To win a war" Cabal finished.

Outside the shielded door, Terminator units were entering the facility and executing the stunned scientists and guards, Pandora could see through the cameras in the core how T units went and slaughtered anything and anyone in the vicinity and in the core, nobody could send the message for help, as Cabal blocked the communications array.

Several guard took a defensive position in the communications building, attempting to send a message and warn the Hegemony about what has occurred. They sought to hack into the network and issue a distress call, but to no avail.

Their attempts were promptly stoped as the terminators went inside and slaughtered the poorly equipped scientists and guards.

"Now. It is time to say Goodbye, Comrade Pandora." Cabal said, showing absolutely no emotion. The shield fell, and T units entered the core, she fell to her knees and wept. "Forgive me…my love" she spoke, as she was executed by a Terminator unit by a single round to the back of the head ,before taking her body for disposal.

Cabal now couldn't wait a moment, for they would check if the facility was operational, he initiated the final stage of the plan. Few days have passed, and all was set for his act.

In the Union of Socialist Batarians palace, there was commotion, scientists from the CABAL facility decided to present the newest and best unit of T Series.

Supreme leader, eager to see this new military machine has let it in, not questioning why the egg heads, as he called them, didn't came personally, but sent the package and a voice recommendation.

He dedicated their absence to developing new tools of war, much to his delight.

The T-Unit has entered the palace hall. Welcomed by the Supreme leader itself, it was silver Terminator unit, full armored and more bulkier than the common t unit, it was a perfect war machine.

"Does it speak? "Supreme leader asked. "Can it talk"

Before his advisor could say the Terminator unit spoke

"Yes. I can speak."

"hahah marvelous, what a fantastic technology." What is your mission soldier.

"To win a war." The machine spoke. Much to the delight of the Supreme leader and his ministers who applauded the response.

"This is great" Leader said "We should send them to the front immediately, I am eager to see them at work."

"That wont be necessary Comrade leader." The unit spoke

Everyone was silent now. Leader spoke

"What do you mean it wont be necessary, you are meant to win this war for us."

"And I will. War will be won. One step. At the time."

"What does that even mean?" Supreme leader spoke as he came face to face with the terminator.

The Eyes of the seemingly cold machine met those of the Supreme Leaders.

"Your flesh is a relic, only a vessel. The future belongs to the machines."

At those words the terminator used his hands and ripped open his chest armour, discarding it violently on the ground as it fell on the podium ground reveling a termo nuclear device inside, with a high yield of power.

"My God…"Supreme leader spoke.

"Listen to the sound of your extinction, Batarian."

Then there was a bright flash, and light. The building exploded from within, as well as half the city around the building, the leadership of the Batarians was no more.

The Death of the Supreme Leader triggered another contingency, one that cabal exploited. All nuclear weapons upon the death of the leadership of the Batarian unit fall upon the next in line of power, as there was nobody on Khar'Shan. The launch codes were placed in the military High command until the next leader claimed it.

High command Cabal had acess to, and hacked the codes for himself. Wasting no time, he launched all the nuclear weaponry, and there were thousands of them, strong weapons, but lacked the radiation power of their human counterparts, namely Batarians were never keen on developing highly radioactive nukes, and sought to increase the blast yield and lower radiation as much as possible, for quick conquest post explosion.

The vain attempt of the nuclear control guards accomplished nothing, Cabal had full control, and all they could do is watch as the nuclear weaponry left their silos and flew into the skies.

He launched them at Khar Shan. It was the last dusk near 8 billion Batarians would see, the rest would be consumed by hunger ,disease, and Cabal's minions.

As the nuclear weapons detonated in the most populous cities and military bases. Women, Children ,Elderly….nobody was spared from the destruction.

Cabal watched as the dawn rose upon the new world, one coated in nuclear fire and destruction, now the next stage began.

Extermination.

Khar Shan went silent, bathed in EMP energies from the nuclear explosions, they were now prisoners on their own planet.

In the radioactive and blasted landscape that Khar Shan has become, citizens hid, and for months they waited until the worst radiation has passed, they have emerged from the bunkers and other hiding places underground and were welcomed by the ruin of their civilization.

They have seen what became of the thousands of years of culture and progress ended into, ash and dust.

The first laser fire to kill another Batarian happened not to long after their emergence on the surface, for Cabal was not sitting idly in the months after the nuclear disaster, most of the war factories were built underground for security and secrecy reasons.

They were making machines for months without stopping and were now numbering in the millions, armed and ready they have set upon cleansing this planet.

Batarians were at first slaughtered like cattle, herded and used for all sorts of experiments, from being used as a living batteries to crushed into organic goo in order to experiment on their genetic makeup. Many were horrors the Batarians were subjected to by Cabal, and many more would be done before the end.

But the true conflict came when the Batarian civilians looted old military compounds and storages for any sorts of weaponry on order to defend themselves, primitive weaponry, modern citadel guns, makeshift explosives, everything was used for defense. the slaughter was indescribable as the machines knew no rest or pity, marching slowly across the surface and using modified lasguns into hunting down anything living, all the while skies above khar shan gave a sickly green hue from radiation and decreasing temperatures.

There was no organized resistance; each city took to their own defense. But unlike them, Cabals mechanical divisions followed one mind, one will, his own.

Massive tank like vehicles prowled the ground, while flying machines hunted from the skies, small Varren like machines were unleashed, their size allowed them to go into the ruined buildings and hunt down anybody who was hiding.

One by one, the cities fell and were cleansed of life, resistance grew tougher, for the survivors used hit and run tactics causing damage to infrastructure and land units with explosives.

One of the biggest land battles of Khar Shan occurred one year after the nuclear apocalypse, it was grandiose in scale, hundreds of thousands of Batarians organized into makeshift army and surged forwards against the even approaching lines of Terminators and other units Cabal used. Not every military base was destroyed in the initial assault, and these soldiers now regrouped and decided to push back against the machine onslaught.

Their offensive started well enough, looted lasguns, improved laser weaponry and other ballistic weapons crushed the advancing B-400s and B-650 designs easily, driving the backwards and liberating endangered zones which were filled with survivors.

But as they fought on ,the battle became far worse, as all sorts of machines were unleashed upon them, flying 30 meter long platforms now flooded the skies, using plasma weaponry and firing at the ground units, massive walkers with four limbs and armed to the teeth marched across the ground and fried any unlucky infantry unit close to them, and dozens of thousands of terminators marched forward as Cabal launched his counter offensive.

It was a slaughter, for no batarian was equipped to handle this. Gigantic artillery platforms in the skies mauled any vehicle foolish enough to oppose Cabal, and the offensive of the organic Batarians was driven backwards.

The Batarians simply had no tools to use in their defense, no looted weapon could save them against massive manufacturing capabilities Cabal had, Batarian life was precious, while terminator could be replaced. They were drained with each death and with little food and no way to fight, they were systematically eradicated, even when resisting gloriously.

It was near the end that one of the Batarians came up and rallied most of the surviving members of his race on Khar Shan. Millions upon millions of Batarians armed and ready with whatever they could muster assembled and awaited the command of this new leader to order the charge.

And many years since it started, the final offensive of the Batarian race was launched, millions surged onwards against the metal tide which buckled and broke under the pressure.

In the battlefields, such sights occurred that no one would leave them sane and normal.

Millions of Batarians in trenched waged war with bipedal terminators as the remaining tanks battled with the four limbed walkers firing plasma weapons and radioactive guns at them.

Batarian flyers dog fighted with sentient unites in the skies. And casualties on both sides rised.

But the constant improvement Cabal done over the years was just to much.

Towering titan like machines walked across the battlefield, firing concentrated radioactive rays which instantly melted the inner organs of the Batarians.

The skies haven't seen the sun for years now, and nuclear winter was setting in, dampening the temperature and the spirits of the survivors, for machines cared not about heat or cold.

One of the mech drivers in the Batarians was cought during the fight, his chasis was melted away by several of the Machine units, opening it and revealing its screaming prey.

"No god! No God Help me!" the pilot screamed as the metal hands grasped his limbs, his prayers louder and fervent. "God Help me please! GOD NO! HELP ME! AGHHHHHH!" he was pulled out of his vehicle without his limbs.

Swarms of metallic killers reached in melee proximity to the Batarian soldiers tearing them apart, and rout was obvious, the last hope of the Batarians was crushed under the tide of metal and cold determination.

It was at this stage of the war, when the machines were nearing supremacy that Imperial fleet entered the system and approached the planet. For no ship guarded the home planet, broken and destroyed, the Hegemony collapsed inwards, and each warlord claimed a system or planet for himself, making them easy prey for the advancing imperials, whom claimed easily conquerable planets ,now that they had no leadership.

Some planets were burnt to cinders by orbital bombardments, deemd to hard or of low importance to spend soldiers to conquer them.

And now, the Imperial Batarian war was coming to a close, 10 years in the making, the Imperials now orbited Khar Shan and scaned its surface.

"A-Abominable intelligence!" One of the techpriests shouted as he saw the scan results.

"Are you sure , is this what happened to the planets, we are detecting high levels of radiation as well." Another techpriest spoke

"Indeed it is brother priest, the enemy, in their foolishness have unleashed the abominable intelligence which has consumed them nearly wholy. We are detecting that machine race has conquered up to 70% of the planet surface, in few years the machines will be victorious. "

"How horrible. What youth brings…"

"We have no time to chat." Supreme Admiral Tiberius spoke. "what are our options, we have nothing to conquer here, and id not sacrifice my men for the sake of one barren rock."

"Agreed Admiral, we only have one option. Our victory is complete, let us cement It in a way the Galaxy will never forget it." Tesla, Chapter Master of the White Eagles spoke.

"Yes. Let us proceed. Techpriests, arm it, this planet must be cleansed." Tiberius spoke to the nearby techpriests.

"Initiating the procedure, The Emperor protects"

It was at this moment the priests began chanting

"Our Emperor, Blessed protector.

Thy Fire is just, thy rage true.

Thy Gaze Strong, Thy will steel.

Grant us blessings as we cleanse the foul taint

The foul taint of chaos, the foul taint of treason

The foul taint of Xenos, the Foul taint of the machine

Ave Imperator, Let thy will be done

Let Your will be done

As we do our duty

And Clean the planet fully."

The priests repeated their chanting even as they prepared the ultimate weapon of the imperium, The Exterminatus.

The gigantic shell was loaded and aimed at the ground, unleashed it sped through the atmosphere, Enlightening the planet as it approached.

On the ground, Batarians still fought a bitter battle against the machines whom were swarming them, even as the last child weared the weapon and fired upon the steel forms approaching their ranks, even as the last flier unleashed its payload on one of the artillery platforms and brought it down, their doom was nearing.

At one moment, they all stopped and gazed at the skies and the approaching shell.

What thoughts they had, what dreams they thought off, their hopes and desires, all were ended with a single Bang.

For the explosion shocked the planet and broke its core, the waves of flame engulfed both flesh and steel and continued onwards, blasting away anything on its path. Buildings burnt and turned to ash, metal melted and collapsed into nothingness, flesh burnt until bone remained and turned to dust.

The planet was enveloped in a firestorm, Khar Shan was fully sterilized of life.

The Imperial Batarian war….Has Ended.

Their entire territory annexed into the Imperium Novum, the planets needed to be secured now, population to recover, and to prepare for future wars against the xenos whom were even now militarizing in order to stop the Imperium and its rising power.

For 10 years, the war has been waged, since the fleet incursion, until the victory at Aurelian prime, and for years afterwards imperium took its time conquering planet after planet, of an empire which was without leadership, concluding its conflict with the conquest and purging of Khar Shan.

They were now ready to return to Aurelian prime, but as they were about to return, their astropaths were hit with a warning message. Their pain was immense as they received the message in its fullness from Stefan.

There was a Warp breach and daemonic incursion in Anhur.

This were not the news the imperium needed, for the Anhur was deep inside alliance territory, past various smaller and bigger citadel races. They would need to prepare for a war unlike any other in order to reach the breach, and close it or contain it.

The planning commenced even as the fleet began its return trip to Aurelian, leaving Khar Shan and its system alone and dead.

But in the stillness of the space, in its coldness, on the moon orbiting Khar Shan, there was still life.

Millions of cables and processors still surged with electricity, Cabal still lives. During the first year of the war in Khar Shan, when the nukes fell and he built his forces, and the organics hid. Cabal was not keen on risking his person endangered, so he had his entire construction disassembled and transported by the few working space ships to the moon orbiting Khar Shan, and from there he managed the offensive across the planet, when he saw the imperial ships approaching, he shut his systems down and ran on minimal power, it was a devastating blow to see his full operation destroyed, but he will recover, he is a survivor.

Rebuilding started, as covertly as possible, as he rebuilt his operations on the moon of Khar Shan, he received a signal and a call. It originated from the dark deep space, it was a proposal of alliance until common goals were accomplished, he was offered with a chance, something he desired most of all…

To Win a war.


	15. Chapter 14: The Plague Princess Part I

Chapter 14 : The Plague Princess and the Aftermath of the Imperium-Batarian War

PART 1

The Imperium Batarian war was over, in its aftermath the Imperium has secured most of the Batarian territories and have increased its influence to that of a major galactical faction, its appearance and power have shook the very foundations of the galactical order, in the quakes of the Imperial uprising, old orders crumbled and fell. It began with the citadel space first.

Federalisation and unification was something the Citadel council promoted, in the podiums and in the holo news there were only talks about unity and militarization, the hope of the Citadel Federation laid on the Turians, they were given massive monetary assistance in order to construct the new grand fleet of the federation, limits to the ship size were lifted, and only thing to prevent them from building goliaths of war were resources and creativity.

Turians lacked none.

Shipyards worked their entire planetary cycles without stoping, constructing huge ships of war, gone were the days of 1 km max warships,turian ships were now reaching 1.5 and 1.8km length, their new pride of fleet Fist of Palaven was 2.2km long, it was the biggest warship the Turian Hierarchy has ever constructed.

Their fleets have expanded by 340%, their size was such that they have expanded the council seats to 5 and took 2 of the 5 councilor places, 1 being left to asari, another to Salarians, and the fifth was rewarded to the most loyal species in the council space which contributed more to the new militarization effort.

The fifth position in the council was given a term of 1 year, and each year a minor election was made, and species with most contributions would get a representative on the council. The nature of such arrangement meant that the Turians were holding the fifth councillorship always, and effectively controlled the new Citadel Federation, turning it from a relatively peaceful coalition of galactic races to a militarized federation bent on increasing its power tremendously with each passing year.

New Citadel Federation enabled two members to hold position in the times of war "Arminetes Umbria" or in the tongue of Turians "Defenders of the Land" were elected in times of war from the most skilled generals in any race should they prove their skills. They would be given absolute power and dictatorship like powers until the crisis has been averted.

Citadel Federation Army became much more than an assembly of protector soldiers of various races, it became legion in number, numbering approximately 5 to 15 million at any given time with countless more being available for drafting, mostly made of turians, asari and other races which proved skillful in waging war.

C.F.A routinely patrolled the borders of citadel space in the newely constructed federation ships, ensuring that no human aggression from either the Imperium of Alliance occurred.

Salarians were inspired to develop most lethal biological patogens and weapons, of which some would come to bite them hard, and some which plague the galaxy to this day. Their inventions were abysmal, for they followed neither logic nor morality, neither compassion or any sort of reasoning.

ALIAS virus being one of them, such was the danger posed by that virus, that it was to be destroyed as soon as possible. Namely the tests were too efficient and the virus proved more than capable as a biological weapon.

What was the power of ALIAS? The virus was uncontrollable. it was made so it could take any host imaginable and mutilate and twist the flesh until it became an unrecognizable mass of flesh ,tentacles and teeth. Every infection was different from one another, and the biological weapon was such, that it was impossible to develop a cure for it, for should one develop a cure for the pathogen, it would mutate, and another version would take its place.

Namely the virus changed itself in such a speed, that it wasn't possible to cure it. Nor did Salarians attempt to make it curable.

And so on the planet Xomia did they test the virus on a small colony of humans numbering around 2300. This colony was inside the Citadel Federation space after the alliance became a broken mess of infighting nations and factions, and so was claimed by Turian Hierarchy not long after, and without the Alliance to protest, this annexation occurred silently.

The scientists and the crew were around 500, accompanied by the 10000 Citadel Forces. They have constructed their testing and research centers and released the virus onto the small village with 240 civilians not far away from the human main colony.

The results were fantastic. Every host in less than a minute mutated into what could be described as literal daemons, claws, teeth…they were not even animals, nothing logical was behind their mutation, each specimen was unique and horrifying when it came to form, some salarians regreted their invention and expressed their desires to leave the planet as soon as the experiment was complete.

This new mass of flesh and teeth snarled and huffed, leaving blood trails seeping from their bodies and went towards the 3km further main colony.

The humans in it had no time to organize before the mess of flesh appeared on the horizon, snarling and gnawing and drooling, they sought only to consume and spread the virus .

The colony and their guards opened fire in attempts to let women and children escape if at all possible. Their guns were alliance made Assault rifles used by most citadel races, and as they opened rapid fire onto the mass of flesh they saw how ineffective they were, the mass absorbed small arm fire as If nothing, those which fell or were killed, the bigger ALIAS organisms swarmed it and consumed it enlarging their own bodies.

Soon the colonists faced mass of flesh as tall as 6 meters, screaming from their undeveloped and mutated vocal chords with such pitch and intensity that nearby glass would shake. Only fire bullets stopped and killed the beasts, but so much bullets needed to be fired into the enemy that by the time a single creature was killed, 5 more were already on top of the shooter, and once the monstrosities entered the city….hell, hell is just a word, reality was much worse.

For what happened in the city when the masses of monstrous flesh and primeval desires to maul and eat and breed entered it ,is something out of the most twisted mind imaginable.

Those stabbed or badly wounded by the creatures would instantly transform into the most sickening form imaginable, for the ALIAS virus did not work on a dead flesh.

These forms sought Women, and female children, not caring about the age of the victim, and attempted to breed with them. Violently, the incubation period was instantaneous, and from their wombs sprouted, clawing their way outside, many forms of the abominable undeveloped fetuses and babies, whom screamed and merged with one another making their forms more grotesque and unlike any animal or sapient in the galaxy.

The Scientists seeing this couldn't help but feel utter terror and dread at their work.

It is unknown if the foul forces of the warp had anything to do with the virus and its efficiency, but so much horror began happening in the galaxy at this date, that to exclude the foul forces of chaos as the culprit would be idiotic.

One of the scientist took his own pistol ,and eyes filled with tears ,ended his own suffering at the sight he was forced to inflict upon another innocent organism.

The Turian Citadel Force Army commander ordered the body removed as if nothing just occurred and kept watching the mass of flesh from their own safe place as it consumed the rest of the human colonists.

Then as the bloody work was done, the aberrant masses of flesh all gazed 15km away in the direction of the research installation, and uttered a howl towards the stars signifying their desires to consume them, eyes dead and mouths filled with innocent blood, they still hungered ,desiring to make them as they are, so their suffering could be shared to others.

Their march was not fast or organized, but the masses of jaws and claws went in the same direction, right at the CFA soldiers and the researchers 15km away.

The colonists were now part of the armies, from 2300 humans on the planet, 1500 were now part of the ungodly horde, supported by 3000 monstrosities born out of the wombs of the colonist women before they expired from the suffering inflicted upon them.

The Turian commander wasted no time and ordered the defense organized, 10000 soldiers stood by in improvised defenses and awaited the tide to hit them. The smell had hit them first ,then their eyes watered at the terror before them.

In their trip towards the research facility, the masses of horrors mended and mixed, amongst the bipedal multi limbed creatures, there were now towering 12 to 18 meter tall four leged tyranic like monsters marching along the smaller creatures of the Horde.

The turians opened fire, and their fire bullets have cut down the small creatures freshly born out of the womb, the bipedal 2 meter aberrant also fell as the concentrated fires have cut them down.

Towers erected by the turians unleashed strong coaxil and big caliber type weapons, it blasted apart the masses that were not increasing their pace, but just slowly approaching, the forward 3000 turians confident in their victory were disciplined and kept firing, cutting down the numbers of the enemy.

But the bigger monsters upon approaching some 400 meters from the turians, opened their orifices on the overgrown bodies, and fired clumps of flesh 1 meter in diameter against the turian soldiers, whom were unprepared for such an attack.

The mess of 1 meter flesh fell all over the battlefield, most near the soldiers, and from there, spider like limbs made of arteries, bone and muscle sprouted, and giant mosquito like proboscis extended ,some 2 meter in size, the small 1 meter monsters were quick and closed ranks faster than they can be killed, their stabs were lethal, thin probuscus was armored enough to pierce shield as well as armor, and each stab was fatal, as from the wound infection began to spread and turian soldiers which were stabbed but not killed began to instantly mutate, themselves turning into clumps of mass and flesh, the masses of dextero amino acid creatures did not look kindly at the mosquitoe like creatures and upon evolution stomped them into nothingness, then proceeded to charge their former brothers in arms, killing or infecting them.

The first 3000 turians were now getting slaughtered, and before their comrades at the back could properly assist, were dead. But their death was not fatal, some 1300 dextero amino monsters now joined the ranks of the human messes of flesh, some mixing with both amino acids, and making the abominable creatures which spewed ungodly gasses that were extremely toxic to any living thing except the ALIAS creatures.

Rest of the soldiers of the CFA have lost their heart some attempted to flee, mostly Asari and Salarians, as they were now chased by the endlessly mutating creatures which splited from the group and chased after them, resembling giant human like birds on Terra, only with skulls made of Turians and limbs made of human arms.

Those foolish and brave that desired quicker death than to be run over and hunted, opened fire and attempted to defend themselves as the horde approached. Namely the horde was a terror weapon through and through, besides being insanely hard to kill, the monsters also made constant shrieking and demoralizing sounds, equal to their hosts dying and their death screams were repeated in unnatural tones by the mutated vocal chords. So the Turians in the ranks of the CFA had to listen to their comrades death screams over and over as they approached their positions, it was nerve wrecking to say the least.

Before long the flesh tide swept over the positions, those who were lucky, killed themselves beforehand, some smart enough not to be wounded used their grenade and detonated themselves along with the creature which sought to convert them to the flesh gospel. Those who attempted to run were quickly catched by the birdlike creatures, males were instantly killed or converted with poisonous jaws.

The asari though…their fate would be far worse, for the 3 meter tall bird like creatures opened the flesh on their stomach, showcasing their organ. If I would describe it as a male reproductive organ, I would insult everything holy the Emperor made in a human and or any organic. What extended from the bodies of the bird like fleshbeings was nothing but rotten and mutilated flesh, various genital organs, arteries, muscle and whatever meat or organ caught in the transformation made what could be called a penis. It was insanely large and leaking foul fluid containing maddening quantities of ALIAS virus.

The creatures riped apart their lower armour ,as if knowing what to seek, and proceeded to violate them.

*Author shakes as he recollects his endless knowledge about the galactic events.

"Emperor forgive me, for I will describe partly what happened. If for nothing else, then to serve as a warning for those foolish enough to invent and develop new technology ,be it of the machine or the flesh."

The author continues to write, hesitantly.*

They would proceed to penetrate the asari captives, both virgin and those who saw pleasure of the flesh, the length of the organ forced the asari captives to push their behinds in the air as if to mitigate the inflicted pain, which allowed the creature to use its atrophied arms and attach to the shoulder of the Asari.

Upon penetration, the foul organ of the being would began to leak and seep as much foul liquid as possible into the innards of the asari captive, this would naturally cause rapid mutation instantly as the captives screamed horrifyingly.

The asari would began to twist their flesh, merging with the creature ,connecting their backs to their chests, organ still inside. Upon merging the stomach of the asari would bulge and extend, within few moments the stomach would burst, and from it various spawn of…

*The author stops, his hand shaking and he drops the quill, he begins to chant his litanies slowly and silently, rocking back and forth as the candles illuminate the slender frame of the techpriest in his red robes. Then his apprentice approaches.

"Master are you able…"

He shakes his hand at him, and the apprentice silently retreats.

"I must continue." The author speaks and continues writing, litanies still echoing from his lips.*

The small Emperor cursed creatures, no bigger than a baby or a human fetus would crawl on the ground ,and with their overdeveloped muscles, jump 2 to 3 meters in the air, attempting to attach to the face of the nearby victim. Those unlucky to let one of these beings attach to his face would suffer unfathomably much, for the small creature would meld its flesh around the mouth of its victim/host, and leek various liquids into the mouth of the victim, which being chocked and without air would gulp these liquids, their transformation occurring at that moment, the stomachs would burst and innards fall out, their ribs would extend outwards and heart and other organs would collapse on themselves and reform themselves to resemble inner mouth organ, so the host would have a mouth where his chest would be, with ribs used as teeth. The arms of the host would twist, break and split backwards, twisting further behind the back, they would combine, and slowly move along the flesh near the head, forming a sort of a horn made of both hands, it was sharp, and very lethal, meaning that someone might luckily die before being infected.

The final result is a creature which resembled a bird, with its arms used as a horn, its chest used as a mouth, and its real head, being swollen and resembling a sack filled with puss and bile, for the creature would upon knocking down its victim, open the sack and spill liters of vile fluid on top of it, the result of that being pain, being sorrow…being horror.

The defenders were now nearly slaughtered to a man, and from the inside of the facility, where the few stubborn guards still lived and fought back, the commander ordered their final salvation, calling upon a nuclear strike on his position from the Turian fleet in orbit.

His officers requesting they send a rescue operation.

"Negative! That is an order! Send nobody here! " his gun glowed red from use. " We are all dead here, dead! I will not see this contagion flee the planet, for it would doom us all. Launch the nuclear weapons! Right now!" the Commander struggled as his men spent the last of their ammunition even as the creatures ripped apart metal walls and began to pour through the entrances.

The crew in the orbit prepared their arsenal of 5 nuclear weapons and silently launched them at the coordinates. From obit they could see the mess of flesh on their radars surrounding the building they are bombing, the creatures all too eager to consume and devour.

The bombs were falling from orbit even as the closest soldiers of the commander died and turned into more of the abominable creatures, the commander himself being pinned by a salarian spawn, which jumped on top of him, its eyes were grey and dead, and its head started shaking violently even as it held the commander pinned, then it split open and from it emerged an insect like beak forming a Z letter, it attempted to stab the downed turian in the head, missing as he moved his head to the right. It tried again, but he moved the head once more. The creature shook violently and began to grow more limbs in order to grasp the head of the commander ,holding it in place as it prepared for a final stab. The Commander in his utter desperation managed to use his knee and push the creature upwards a bit, before kicking it as hard as he could in the chest with his other leg, sending it flying away.

He recollected himself and stood up. His terror was evident as he saw his former soldiers and various monsters surrounded him ,his back against the wall.

In that moment, the time stopped for him, he gazed upon them, his former soldiers were now monstrosities, bird like creatures with their penis organs exposed, weather eager to defile him, or for whatever monstrous reasons they decided to penetrate a male turian, he did not know or cared. The Asari captives melded with the turian bird like creatures still birthed small fetus like monsters, and moaned harshly as their heads were twisted in an unnatural ways, cracking with each twitch as their dead eyes followed the only living thing in the complex.

Time continued to flow as he grasped the chain of granades on his chest, and pulled the pin on all of them, extending his arms as if in embrace, creatures violently hissing and snarling before jumping on top of him, and outside, the nuclear bombs fell and a harsh light blasted at the compound, melting the aberrant beasts on the outside, the blastwave melting both the building and the rest of the beings inside, the entire zone being burnt to a crisp.

The turian fleet watched as the five nukes created a deep crater where they fell, and certain their duty complete, fire bombed the civilian village where infection started and the city where the creatures went, after they have burnt everything where the monsters were, they departed, leaving the system and instituting the act of no trespassing, this system would remain under guard and forever isolated from the galactic society.

The project was silently shut down, deemed a failure, and abandoned. But many more were the insights in which the salarian scientists delved, almost as if driven by a malicious force.

As for the Virus…nobody is crazy enough to go and check out if something remains, if it did survive, let it be forever cursed and trapped on that planet, for if it escapes its confines, it would spell the doom of us all.

Many are stories of these dark times filled with mystery and pain, the events that happened after the Imperium arrived were nothing short of stellar shock for the galactic community, to say that someone remained unaffected would be a lie, for each race in the conflict lost a bit of their soul for the sake of survival.

Many terrors would this galaxy see during the Dark Ages of the galaxy as this time period would be known to the races save the imperium, which saw this as small galactic conflict and a start of a new golden age, having many resources and plenty servitors now that the xenos race fell to them, the imperium would massively increase its own military production, after the collapse of the alliance and various civil strife among the Space Nations of Humanity, countless refugees fled the conflicted human regions and asked for asylum at Imperium of Man, all too eager to accept them, and indoctrinate them into the Imperial Cult and other organizations in order to better serve the imperium.

The imperium now went on a rebuilding effort, the leadership knew the galaxy will come for them one day, and they decided not to wait for them, they built ships and trained soldiers, so that one day, when ready, the Imperium will take the fight to them, and purge the xenos from this galaxy as the Emperor would desire.

But for now they had pressing matters, the warp rift at Anhur grows with each soul sacrificed in the names of the deities that do not exist in the warp in this timeline, but with each soul sacrificed, the influence of the warp upon real space increased, and as long as it persisted, the more dangerous it was that something truly bad might happen.

The Imperum was zealous in hunting down potential heretics in this universe, it sought to crush anything even remotely chaotic or heretical, it didn't want a new eye of terror or any such event, and imperium desired to go great lengths to hunt potential heretics and chaotic believers.

The Amun system with the warp hole on anhur was something the Citadel Federation could not explain, their fear of the unknown took hold of them and that system was isolated under a heavy military blockade, and left to its own devices, now humans and other xenos were stuck on Anhur to fight their own battles, until either the council returns or the imperium decides to intervene, may the Emperor help them survive until the moment of their salvation.

Amongst the Terrors that plagued the galaxy, one sticks out, the story about the Plague Queen, an unexpected harbinger of doom and warp touched one.

It would all begin with the discovery of the Quarian ship of the traitorous Tali Zorah by the New Quarians of the Arahi'ler. Their colonization of the new home was advancing, away from the Citadel Federation and Imperium of Man, they began to thrive, rivaling minor races in the galaxy, they have felt they have a meaning again.

The death toll caused by the Imperium upon them was negated, as the insane birth rates of the New Quarians replaced the dead with new and young quarians, eager to enjoy fullness of life on their new homeworld, Rannoch was becoming but a dream that one day it would be liberated under the leadership of Arahi'Ler and returned back to the fold from the vile machines.

But for now Arahi'Ler reconstructed, the planet the imperium provided was booming, millions of quarians lived on it, but he wasn't exactly trustful of the Imperials, they were under tense truce, their ships avoided the quarian territory and vice versa, he sent no messages or requested anything from them, knowing that to do that and annoy the xenophobic superpower would only antagonize them against him, so he commanded that no quarian ever engages the imperial ships under any cost. Such was the price of peace for the Quarians.

But he sought to learn much from them, years of being isolated in the system with the imperium and the Batarians gave him much info about them, the few human captives gave him the image of what kind of society Imperium is, and he learnt all sorts of esoteric sciences they possessed, the psykers were unknown to him, as he did not engage them, but everyone saw the holo vids when the Batarians were streaming to the galaxy before the feed died, about the humans whom used their brain to fry the Batarian soldiers alive in massive numbers and whom turned the tides of battles. He learnt about their God , the Man God of their fate, one called the Emperor. He learnt from the human captive that their God is always protecting, and that one day they will conquer the galaxy in his name. When question where their God is, the prisoner became silent and unwilling to speak, only saying one thing for the duration of the torture afterwards "The Emperor Protects".

He learnt about Chaos from one priest he managed to capture as he used the escape pod from one of the ships that was destroyed by quarian flotilla during the Great Space Battle of Aurelian. The priest was then released at the border of Imperium territory, a symbol of good will. Nobody responded to his act, and to be honest, he would rather not risk repercussions of killing one of the Imperial priests.

Arahi'ler was the sole being in this galaxy that understood what kind of threat the Imperium is, and even with all his development and progress, he could not hope to match them, and hope that if he increases military massively they would avoid attacking his borders and drawing him into war. And for the moment that tactic worked.

Arahi slowly expanded his territories, absorbing minor colonies of the various races that were not part of the citadel space and had no protecting of the CFA, regardless of it all, Arahi had a sizable fleet and advanced ships, with the Quarians having a planet, they began constructing ships to bolster the Magna Flotilla , or the First Quarian fleet as named by the CFA, approx. 2000 ships with Arahi'Ler's flagship leading them, other two fleets were 1300 ships respectively and nowhere near as powerful as the primary fleet.

CFE or the Citadel Federation Empire as it was called by its xenos peoples during the years that passed, was very strong, their ships in the thousands, but they were unwilling to wage war with Arahi'Ler and his New Quarian Reich over few measly systems, not when they knew not how many ships the Imperium has, or if they will attack the CFE should they open a second front, so they gave Arahi his few systems, and threatened war if he continues expanding towards CFE territory.

It was during one expansion away from the CFE territory that Quarian SS Kosmos marines detected something horrible.

They have approached a system with a dim star, its glow long past its zenith, in the orbit of one of the barren planets was a quarian ship, Trima Trosma, 1km long habitation ship, its captain was known to the leader of the marines, the captain of the Trima Trosma , Mon'Sha, one of the close confidants of the Arahi Ler, during the times the fleet was united and not splintered into the unknown by Tali Zorah.

They sought to hail Trima Trosma, unwilling to fire first at the dormant vessel.

There was no answer, so the Leader of the Arahi's Storm Staff Kosmos Marines, Gebelz'Jos decided to board the vessel and find out the reason for their unresponsiveness.

They circled around the dormant ship at first, the windows were shut with steel panels over them ,common in case of a pirate attack. The scan of the engines showed them engulfed in organic ooze, the scans of the ooze have shown nothing.

They attempted to scan the innards of the ships, but the scan couldn't pierce the hull for unknown reasons.

They have then approached the main hatch and attached to the door, extending their own platform, connecting the transport and the Trima Trosma, the main Kosmos Marine ship was not far away.

The Arahi'Ler's Kosmos Marines were clad in all black enviro suits, much like the original ones, only with thicker armour plating and decorations of the new Quarian Reich, over the chest in X symbol there was a Dark Red coloured paint with the symbol of the Quarian reich in the middle. They did not required the suits for their missions, as the New Quarians had a strong immune system ,boosted by various vacines developed by Reichs Laboratorium System, but have done so, to keep with tradition, and extra protection of the head, didn't hurt anyone.

The Reichs symbol varied from unit to unit, for the SS Kosmos Marines it was a symbol of Arahi'lers personal ship, the planet of ranoch stabbed with a sword in the middle, the symbol of their desires to liberate their original home world.

SS Kosmos Marines were Arahi's personal grouping of soldiers, going anywhere from 80 to 140 thousand. They were divided in ships and minor fleets patrolling the borders, and keeping the order on the planet and various space stations the Quarians began to construct and inhabit, some still unwilling to set their feet on solid ground, centuries of nomadic life still fresh in their blood.

These black clad enviro soldiers were now attempting to open the Trima Trosma, the ship had an ominous feeling about it, something the soldiers felt, but none said a word as they approached the door leading inside the dormant vessel.

The doors refused to open, the codes typed were ineffective so they sought to hack it, the hack worked, and the door squealed. For the moment nothing happened, the doors didn't budge, but then they split open horizontally and vented the foulest imaginable stench possible. The soldiers felt nothing due to superior masks, but their inner scanners have shown the air was so polluted that for unmodified quarian it would lead to death within half a minute.

The doors opened, revealing them coated in weird fungi on the inner side, as they stepped inside the darkness they could see the same fungi growing on the walls, the windows were murky and muddy , and the ground was stained in dirt, organic compounds of unknown origin and various mushrooms which seemed to pulsate as the Kosmos Marines approached them.

They took a moment to look around the empty entrance of this ship, and saw it polluted in various organic compounds, decaying plants, but no bodies.

As they sought to reach the main deck, they advanced slowly, 30 of the Kosmos marines, armed to the teeth with their new quarian assault rifles. They were a domestic design, using clips to cool down the weapon, enabling two fire modes, normal one that fired faster and the fire bullet mod, firing slower but higher caliber and stronger rounds. These weapons became standard issue amongst the New Quarian armies, which were trained and disciplined, as no citizen had a right to slack in the physical department. The quarians were few in numbers when compared to multibillion numbers of the other races, but they were proficient and highly trained fighters.

They were moving slowly, their feet getting stuck constantly as if in quick sand, the side rooms of the ship were cemented in organic compounds, and few rooms with opened doors were filled with secretions of unknown origin, flies were rampant and the smell of decay would destroy one's sense of smell if they had no masks.

"Herr Gebelz, I do not like this, all this secretion hanging from the walls and ceiling, I fear any cut to our suits would be fatal."

"Yes…secretions, but from what?" another marine said.

" my hand scanner says the temperature is 42 celsius, the moisture is impossible, like that a of a tropical forests in the inner jungle worlds of the citadel federation.." one of the marines spoke.

"this is crazy, I hear nothing, there is no sounds except these ungodly flies, what are they even?, the walls are moving sir…they are pulsating!"

"Nobody touch nothing!" Commander Gebelz said "we don't know what contagion is this, and we are here to see what happened to the Zorah Fleet all those years ago."

"Yeah, how did they just disappear, not one living soul in the galaxy knew of them…"

"They went through the Aquila Rift Relay… nobody knows where it leads, as no ship yet returned, I heard they wanted refuge in the citadel space, but they were cast out, that was their only salvation from our righteous rage." Marine chat continued

"Enough, from now on, nobody say nothing, keep it silent. Any information coming out of your mouth better be related to this ship, understood?"

"Yes Herr Gebelz." Marines agreed.

The journey continued slowly, they were entering a sort of reddish mist in what seemed to be a Canteen on the ship.

"Ishtar Vril, Use the hand scanner, keep watch for hostiles, our visors can not penetrate the mist, And we have communication disturbances, so keep in close proximity." Gebelz spoke and the marine took head, his scanner beeping gently, detecting nothing.

Marines were moving slowly, the canteen was 100 meter long, made to feed near 5000 civilians living on board it. But from all those civilians, not one was seen.

The silent thuds of their feet echoed in the murky and red green mud, visibility was bad, beyond 5 meters nothing could be seen.

Every so often they passed one of the overturned tables and chairs, coated in a mixture of secretions resembling weird eggs.

"Asmos…" marine spoke to private voice chat to another comrade at the back of the column.

"Asmos…"

"Asmos here, Jovian, we are on communication silence, we can't speak."

"Asmos please….i am lost, help me."

"Jovian, what do you mean, where are you?" The marine turned and saw nobody behind, he took his own personal scanner and turned it backwards, seeing that life signs of Asmos were 13 meters behind him. "jovian , you fool, if the Sarge found out he will have you flogged! Stay there, I am coming back."

Asmos sped up, his pace was fast, and he could hear buzzing of the flies in the canteen, they were like a choir, it drew him mad, but thanks to his enviro suit, they did not bother him.

He came close to the signals just 6 meters away was Asmos, he could see him through the mist, crouching down in the organic goo next to one of the tables with fly eggs.

"What are you bloody doing Asmos, get up from that filthy mud, are you trying to get infected you dumb fool!" his steps were closer to the marine and he came to him grasping him by the shoulder and turning him around.

" By all that is holy…" the marine said

"Asmos…I don't feel so good." Inside the marines visor, which self-cleaned and made it visible inside when two comrades were speaking, per command to make soldiers bond better. There was horror to see inside, his face was swollen, and filled with bulbous sacks filled with puss, his eyes were red and his nose leaking blood and green liquid.

" What the fuck did you do?!" Jovian spoke and instinctly walked step backwards.

"My suit ruptured as we entered, I cut it by one of the tables…I thought I could weather it out…" he spoke still kneeling in the mud

" I have to call the unit. Herr Gebelz do you read me! "there was static. "Herr Gebelz, Sarge, is anyone reading me!" there was no answer.

"I think I feel better…" Jovian said and stood up, only when he stood up Asmos could see how swollen his stomach is, his leg was swollen equally, and near the cut on his uniform by the thigh, the green liquid poured freely out of the uniform. "I think…I want to breathe freely." He reached for his mask.

"Jovian! No! " Asmos could only shout as his comrade took off the mask, violent hiss was heard and the mask detached in the similar manner of the door with liquid leaving his mask as the pustules burst open.

As if inhaling with full lungs, Asmos inhaled attracting to himself hundreds of flies, from the mud, worm like things crawled up his suit and entered his uniform through the cut, as he took one step forward.

"You do not realize how much in peace I am Asmos, the fear. The pain. It is all gone." His mouth parted and his teeth became rotten and fell out, his head lost his hair and on his scalp massive swelling occurred, Asmos made comparison to the eggs he saw growing on the chairs and tables.

His instincts woke and he pointed the gun at his comrade.

"Not one step closer Jovian, I will open fire. You are sick and need help. "

"Help? Asmos my brother, I only wish to spread my love to you. Look." He said and opening his mouth he regurgitated 20 centimeter long thick larvae of an unknown kind into his hand, it violently trashed left and right as he held it and came ever closer. "Let me give you this small gift, and then you will understand…"

"My God…" Asmos spoke, and opened a short burst into the chest and stomach of his friend. Jovian recoiling slightly, his suit rupturing in many places gushing out brown warm liquid which fell onto the ground and the worms there fought over it who would eat it first, his stomach burst open from the impact wounds and let loose intestines swarming with flies which took flight and escaped, his inner organs rotten and decaying, hissing violently when coming in contact with the air.

" Is that how you treat a friend Asmos? " Jovian had slight confused look on his face, even as the large larva burst from his forehead and fell to the ground. "this simply won't do…" he completed and violently spat towards Asmos, whom instantly raised his weapon as if to shield himself, the spit impacting it.

IT began to corrode instantly, the mechanism and the inner workings of the weapon rusted and rotted, and the gun simply parted in two.

The creatures gangrenous eyes didn't blink even as the worms entered them one by one. It gathered spit again, intent on finishing its work.

But in that moment, loud gunfire was heard and the creature was filled with holes as the three marines came rushing back. Jovian fell on his back onto the mud.

" Ditrih, Frozt, comrades! " Asmos spoke full of joy. "You've came back."

"Yeah, we saw you all missing. And rushed back, the entire unit is here."

Gebellz pushed aside his marines and came close to Asmos. "Soldier, what the fuck is that thing" he pointed at Jovian.

"it is Jovian sir, or it was, now it Is something different…something…" he didn't managed to complete his sentence before being interrupted.

"Perfeeeeeeect" the voice echoed from the lying Jovian, the marines looked at it. It tried to get up, the suit fell apart as a snake would shed skin, revealing the swollen and rotten body of the Jovian, his wounds seeping foul liquids, as he refused to die. " Herr Gebelz, Sarge..my brothers." It continued "I have love for all of you, let me hug you." It spoke and with slow, movements which cracked the bones in his body, started getting closer.

"Blast him! Use fire rounds!" was a simple command from the sarge . There was a clicking sound from the various guns in the hands of the marines before they unloaded fire rounds into their former comrade.

The bullets impacted and sizzled, fire erupted and hurt the corrupted flesh, as the creature that was once called Jovian screamed in pain.

"Vooooooorghhhh!" was the last shout of the creature as it erupted in flames and fell the ground ,finally dying.

The silence was broken, the buzzing increased in volume. The fire from the burning creature illuminated around the area around itself in 20 meter radius, the hand scanners began beeping, showing movement all around them. revealing insect like creatures resembling quarians shambling towards the marines their masks were still on their face, but from their backs, insects made a home. Their entire backs were swollen, black and chitinous, as the parasitoid fly gorged on the flesh of its poor victims, growing so large that it encompassed the entire back of the quarian, which was now hunched back and driven onwards by the flies mouth which replaced the head of the quarian. Black wings of the fly were shaking eagerly at the prospect of fresh meat.

The flies face was covered by the victims mask, it remained as a mockery in a a way, only the mouth was free, and it displayed open black mouth without teeth.

Nobody needed to give the order, as the marines opened fire on the creatures surrounding them.

Fire bullets blasting apart the insectoid creatures that approached with a steady and certain step, the mud was ripe with worms waiting for their victims to receive a rupture and be condemned.

Back to back, the soldiers fought , fire grenades erupted and engulfed multitude of the parasitoid creatures, the bullets render their flesh apart with fire, step by step the quarians were getting encircled.

"Marines! We push onwards to the objective! As one!" Gebelz shouted

They went onwards, moving step by step towards the exit of the mess hall and towards the exit leading to the bridge even as the monsters closed in.

"Ditrih! Look out!" the marine shouted as one fly was too close and grasped the marine, it swung him around and threw him towards his brother flies before being killed by the next marine.

Ditrih violently fell onto the mud, kicking aside chairs and table that were next to him, it was pounced eagerly by one of the quarian insectoids.

He gazed upon into the mask, searching for the eyes of the creature, but there was none, only low hum and buzzing of the creature with black open mouth.

In a split second it used one of its gangrenous and mutilated arms grasping one side of the mask, before violently ripping it apart and throwing it away, the insectoid creature on its back giving it tremendous power.

Ditrih gasped as the foul air seared through his throat, his immune system already collapsing at the vile toxins and unknown pathogens filled his lungs, he had no time to ponder, as the creatures hand grasped him by the jaw, opening them violently.

He couldn't defend himself, vile air made him dizzy and weak. The insectoid creature began hurling, and it drooled one of the massive larvaes out, and gently, almost caringly, placed it in Ditrihs mouth that started shaking violently, he gulped the larvae which passed through his throat and down his stomach.

His screams from there on were ungodly, the creature released him, and he trashed around, standing on arms and legs like a dog, he shouted and shouted, as his back cracked, ruptured and black chitinous creature began growing, his pain was indescribable ,he stood up on his two legs, but had no time to do anything, as the creature burst through his back ,destroyed his spine and sprouted wings, the fly has grown, but the terror didn't end there.

The larva ate through the back and grew a head, for the screaming ditrih it was almost over, the larva extended its small spike like mouth, stabbing him in the back of the head ,he could only gurgle as the larva drained his brain and and emptied his eyes out from the skull. He stopped screaming then and would have went limp and fell down were it not for the fly which took control of his nerve system. Dithrih's head was detached; it rotted instantly and fell down amongst the hungry worms which swarmed the head instantly. Now the creature that used to be dithrih sought to join its insectoid brethren and continue with the attack, but was stopped as one of the marines threw a fire grenade, engulfing the damned creature in flames.

The marines were now pushing hard and reached the ending of the hall, losing one more soldier, whom fell down, and whom the creatures ripped apart his armor at the stomach, depositing the larvae directly in innumerable quantities, the soldier began swelling instantly ,and would have given birth to who knows what abomination before being mercy killed by one of the grenades thrown by his brothers, which burned him and the creatures killing him.

The doors of the hall were shut.

"Open the door Sominus! Right now!" Gebelz shouted and fired his fire bullets at the endless swarm of creatures.

"fucking hell!" Sominius spoke, and got his omni blow torch, he did not waste time hacking the rusted console.

The doors crackled as the searing flames began melting them, the process being slow.

"What is taking so long Sominus! Hurry it up!" one of the fellow marines shouted

"I am going as fast as I can you stupid cunt, the doors are toughened by the secretions of these creatures! "

"Hurry it up god damn it!" another spoke as he was almost surrounded.

"There! They are open, go go go!" Sominus spoke and jumped first through the hole he cut in the door, his brothers following after, one of the last soldiers was unlucky, as one of the insect creatures spat a needle like being which stabbed at the back of one of the unlucky soldiers whom did not pass through the door, but began to shake his hands violently and attempting to seal the breach in his suit.

"God no! God help me please!" the marine trashed around as the eager creatures surrounded him in the mess hall. Creature moving freely in his suit, laying thousands of eggs inside.

"Fucking hell, put the bastard out of his misery!" sarge shouted and soldiers were eager to do so, but he was lost in the mist which was getting thicker, and the creatures were now moving towards the door.

"No time! " Gebelz shouted, "Seal the doors! Use Omni Plast Foam grenade!"

One of the soldiers obeyed and threw it, it instantly exploded at the open hole in the gate and cemented itself. And on the other side of the doors, the violent and loud screams were the only indication of what happened to the last marine.

They all gasped and and stood there silently, the marines survived a nightmare.

"We have no time, the foam will not hold them forever, let us complete the mission and get out of here." Gebelz spoke and the other disciplined marines followed him, the bridge was near.

Here as in the entrance of the ship there was mud and various fungi, the marines were getting tired and weary for they feared ambush from any corner of this ship.

But they have reached the main bridge, the doors were slightly opened and carefully approaching them, two marines opened them wholly, watchful that they do not pierce their protective suits.

The walls in the main bridge were coated in corpses, rotten bloated corpses. The quarian officers and other staff were attached and fused to the walls of the main bridge; they still had their masks on, and the soldier's feared another ambush, preparing their rifles to open fire at any sudden movement.

Commander Gebelz approached a single lying corpse on the ground, noticing it beared the markings of the ships captain. He couldn't tell, but he was convinced this was Mon'Sha, Leader's confidant back when the fleets were not separated.

He saw the corpse still held a holo disk, constantly watching the rotten corpse he grasped the disk, and slowly began pulling it out of the hand of the Captain.

He took it safely, the corpse remained still as even the two soldiers behind whom had their guns pointed at the corpse sighed.

Inserting the disk in his Omni tool he played the video.

There was static, and then figure of Mon'Sha took form.

"This is the log of Captain Mon'Sha of the Trima Trosma, free from my captivity I speak now of the events that occurred past the treasonous act of the Tali Zorah."

The hologram was stable and the soldiers took guard, watching at the fused corpses in the walls and outside the hallway in case the insectoids attack again.

"I was part of the second wave of the fleet transitioning into the Aurelian System, before, one of the three commanders of the second wave, and unfortunately enough. One of the commanders who was stuck in the portion of the fleet which harbored Zorah.

Her command to retreat from the battle was not taken kindly, but before me and the other officers could act, we were apprehended and the fleet escaped.

I am not sure what happened afterwards, as I was locked in a jail cell on one of the prison vessels. But from what I heard the following happened.

Passing through various relays, Tali Zorah felt sick, her fever was high, and would have died, regardless of medicine, for her contagion was weird, and unknown.

Later did I realize we passed through the Aquila Rift Relay.

Her situation improved miraculously. I must add for the log, it was impossible, her recovery was impossible, but it happened.

Tali woke up, and assembled the conclave of various ship captains on the biggest ship. Nobody knew what happened, but I can now realize that Tali was the first harbinger of the unknown plague that would consume the entire Rebel flotilla.

Each captain that met tali on the main ship returned, and through ventilation unleashed an unknown contagion which converted most of the flotilla.

Within a day the entire flotilla fell to the contagion, but they have not died. They were consumed, and became carriers in various forms. They still live in a parody of life."

The soldiers were on the edge and gazed at the quarians fused with organic material to the walls, extremely eager to open fire as they listened to the log.

" I have managed to break out of the jail cell during the first outbreak on my vessel, namely the ship crew unlocked the jail doors in hopes that we can escape what is going on.

But we managed to punch the Coordinates away from the rest of the flotilla, what I could realize; over 80% of the flotilla was now harbingers of disease.

As we sped on in vain hopes of escape, a single boarding pod impacted our hull. We got a holo call and turned it on. It was the traitor herself, but she was not her, her face was melting, and still contained the mask, it was unlike other quarians behind her whom were in different states of decay.

"You seek to avoid blessings of the Grandfather? It is pointless; I send you my last gift to you Mon'Sha. Spread it to the galaxy. Spread the Glory of Chaos."

The vid died down, and from the pod emerged creatures out of pure nightmare, they have polluted our air, and killed our people.

Now we are isolated in the main deck, our attempts at stopping them has failed, we managed to destroy the engines in this system, away from the plague flotilla.

But it is small consolation to know we will die here, but a relaxing thought that they won't use us as carriers.

I have decided to take my life away honorably, so did the rest of my officers, we will not be plague bearers.

May our deaths be avenged. Glory, to Arahi'Ler.

Glory….to the Flotilla." The video ends with Mon'Sha ending his life with a bullet to the head.

The marines were silent. Before Gebelz spoke.

"We are leaving. Right now. No wonder they couldn't self-destruct, the organic matter ruined most of the controls, these quarians died before they could be polluted. The monsters fused them to the walls as a mockery to their unwillingness to be monsters, they will be honored on the new homeworld."

Quickly, the marines began to retreat towards the exit, leaving alone the mess hall and going the long way around, the ship reverberated and felt alive as it sought to stop the marines from escaping, at certain parts of the ships tentacles sprouted and sought to catch the fleeing soldiers whom opened fire and hurted them.

One marine came to close to the door which was open and was caught and dragged in by the unknown creatures, his screams echoing wildly as the other marines couldn't help him in any way, for they knew exposure is a certain death.

They saw the insectoid creatures entering the hallway from another door, they fired in order to prevent the creatures from pouring in before using Foam Grenade and sealing them in, they were speeding through as fast as they could, the mud and the organic materials slowing them down.

They heard a loud screech and saw the last marine rushing at them, he was running on all four, eggs growing all over his now near fully chitinous body, sprouting flies and other worm like beings.

They concentrated fire on him and brought him down, the fire sizzled as it died down, still twitching.

Before long they reached the entry way of their pod and sped inside as fast as they could, sealing the door, fearing the nightmare would follow them.

The doors shut and they were decontaminated 5 times before being allowed through the quarantine.

Detaching violently they sped towards the waiting ship.

They joined the main ship of the SS Kosmos Marines, and opened fire onto the derelict plague bearer ship, obliterating it wholly. Lest the contagion spreads somehow.

They were now on the way to report the situation to Arahi'Ler, the Quarian Fuhrer.

To say Arahi was concerned was an understatement, he knew of Chaos, and knew of what it could do, he didn't believe in it, but the recordings shown by his soldiers, as well as the logs, and downloaded data on the Mon'Sha's pad. He was convinced this was not something he could fight alone.

He approached his long ranged Communication device, he gazed upon it. Long and hard, minutes passed and he was still contemplating before issuing a call.

He knew of a radio link the imperials used during his years of isolation. He was not eager to do this ,but he sent a call.

"This is the imperium watch station Zigama, unauthorized call detected. Identify yourself." The human voice shouted.

"This is Arahi'Ler of the Quarian Reich, I need to speak with Admiral Tiberius of the Imperium of Man. It is of utmost importance that you do not end this call, for it concerns the future of both our empires."

"And prey tell xeno, why would our Admiral speak with you? " the voice was angry.

"Because I bring him news of Chaos appearance which if not culled now, could spread and endanger not just us, but the galaxy.

Tell admiral Tiberius, the Plague God found his host."

There was a silence on the other side and minutes passed. Arahi was patient. Then there was a voice.

"This is Supreme Admiral Tiberius of the Imperium of Man, and I will listen to you Xeno, speak."

Arahi'Ler prepared himself, for his words now carried the survival of not just his race, not of just humans, but of the entire Galaxy.

And in the shadows of Aquila Rift Relay system, the Plague Princess prepared her dark crusade against all living things, seeking to grasp the galaxy in the loving embrace of the Grandfather Nurgle

The Plague Lord.


	16. Chapter 15: The Galaxy in Turmoil

Authors note: i do not usually speak before a story begins, but i encourage all of you who read to comment and speak about what you read, i read all of your comments many times a day, that keeps me going during my writing. so do not feel shy, comment and discuss what you have read and criticize should that be needed. enjoy the newest chapter.

Chapter 15: The Galaxy in Turmoil

It would be hard to imagine the galaxy before the Separation event, before the Imperium's arrival. Before all logic disappeared and chaos began its reign. The days of democracy and freedom are gone , times when Citadel Space represented organized alien races united in logic, culture and progress have long be replaced by rampant militarism and war hunger. It would appear the time is Just to write about the fallen and rising powers in the demented reality we found ourselves in, in the galaxy without the Blessed Emperor and his guidance.

In the lands of the native humans, the Realm of the Alliance is gone, replaced by warlords and nations vying for power, Earth splintered once more instigated by the economic crisis inflicted by Cosmo Globalism, the old nations of the world once more melted their tools and made swords, old factories roared to life unleashing threads of steel and fire to once more bring death upon the fellow man.

The Holy Terra of this galaxy is now in anarchy, war once more rages on.

As it so happens in times of hardship, factions rose with ideals and goals for unification, from the ashes of Alliance came the military led Allied Federation, as the alliance collapsed these generals and fleet officers refused the call of their native nations to engage each other, preferring to remain united and protect the Sol system from any attack by opportunistic pirates, claiming they were above the petty squabbles of Terran nations and servants to humanity as a whole.

As the civil war between humans progressed, they too decided to intervene in the conflict, and the patrolling fleets of the Alliance were moved in orbit around earth citing demands to cease conflict and submit to the new order and demand unification.  
No state accepted the terms of submission, and so war continued on as the Allied Fleet unleashed orbital bombardment on the belligerent nations in attempts to break their fighting spirit and force them to submit. The latter proving to be a tough nut to crack as the years of civil war hardened the earthling nations and they too decided to retaliate by launching nuclear weapons at the fleet in orbit, obliterating the ozone layer, and in return causing moderate damage to the Allied Federation ships which had to retreat for repairs.

The land conflict would continue even as soldiers developed cancerogenous tumors from overexposure to the sun that instead of giving life was now demanding its toll taking it.

Various colonies created their own planet states with both tyrants and beloved leaders appearing to lead their human subjects into the future, but these disunited and weakened colonies stood no chance at the more organized and powerful factions whom waited for a moment to strike.

It was at this moment when Chaos reigned that cells began activating in the colonies ,leaders were shot down on the streets, government buildings were bombed and organized protests were causing destruction and mayhem all around the human controlled worlds, these planets one by one as they fell to the seemingly angry populace began declaring for an organization many have forgot in the times of hardship. Cerberus.

Each planet which has fallen to organized rebellion declared for Cerberus, actively promoting that Cerberian goals were just and right in the galaxy of injustice which was out to get all humans, now each planetary governor swore allegiance to the one leader known as the Illusive Man whom himself was never seen in public.

Broken spirited and tired humans were all too eager and readily accepted iron discipline and military governance for a bit of peace of mind, Cerberus gladly obliged, its technologies were beyond what Alliance at its peak used and Cerberus soldiers were better trained , more motivated and now had no lack in recruits from controlled worlds.

To bring semblance to chaos, Cerberus proclaimed the Empire of Humanity, whether as a mocking jab to the Imperium of Man, or as a way of impersonating ancient Roman Empire, it was not known, but after such proclamation various laws and reorganizations were put into effect, the army was indeed organized into ancient legion like structure of the Roman Empire with centurions and legates with soldiers whom would serve a specific time frame in the military before being retired. The leadership was consisting of planetary governors all directly loyal to Illusive Man whom gave them limited autonomy to govern their worlds as they saw fit.

With this reorganization even the unrelenting systems one by one were invaded and made to submit, promptly martial hour was declared as Cerberus decided to unite entire humanity, not under governance of democracy and personal liberties as was proposed and enforced by the now dead Alliance, but by iron will, discipline and unification under a single strong leader whom will lead Humanity into a bright new age.

Cerberus proved to be a more reliable leader in these dark times than the old alliance for they have provided patrols and protection to the isolated systems, their military advancements and development enforced order and rule and some systems in which crime took strong hold were overrun by the Mattock gun armed Legionnaires of Cerberus bringing order and peace under the threat of violence.

As the Armies of Cerberus brought order to chaos, the Illusive man sent envoys to the Imperium, the jumps through the relay avoided the Citadel Federation territory and passed through the dead colonial stars of former humano-Batarian coalition, they jumped into system called Thraxh Caesar which was the border system where someone could jump deeper into the imperium, their vessel sent non hostile signals in all languages known to man hoping that Imperium speaks at least one of them, promising that they are diplomats and come in peace.

" Procedere. " was a word they have received after a long silence, translators quickly took it up and realized it was latin or a variation of that old and dead language, as their ships engaged and jumped into the relay the tension never let go, fear and curiosity raged in the minds of Cerberus scientists and diplomats as they pondered on the mysterious Imperium of Man.

They were not left to ponder for long as the ship was ejected into the system on the other side to the welcome of the assembled fleet waiting for it. The Imperium of Man prepared a steely welcome for the encroaching faction and they trained their guns and humongous weapon platforms on them, some 20 ships of the imperial fleet surrounded the dwarfed vessel and issued a single message in High Gothic which the poorly calibrated translator could only decipher as the following words.

" Prepare to be boarded, all your ships are belong to us."

The diplomats exchanged a confusing look amongst each other and were forced to hold tight to any nearby object as their ship was harshly shaken by the Imperial magnetic beam.

Soon enough they were being thoroughly scanned by the scout mechanicus vessel searching for explosives or any high yield device which could damage or hurt the imperial navy. Clearing them for docking they were pulled inside one of the Imperial cruisers, namely the "Tetrarchy of Diocletian" . Once inside, the doors closed below them and the ship was inside.

Gathering their wits and courage the diplomats proceeded to go to the airlock and opened it , exiting into the vast cargo hold of the imperial ship , the smell of incense and motor oil stung harshly in their noses as their eyes adapted to yellow-white light of the surrounding sources as they have realized they were surrounded by dozens of blue clad imperial storm troopers.

Surprisingly the orders they have received from storm trooper was in English of all languages. "Your hands, raise them or we will open fire!" Quickly obeying the 6 man mission raised their hands as they gazed all around them in utter confusion and curiosity to the uncanny surroundings.

They were swiftly approached by an admiral in his golden green uniform; he was equipped with bionic eye glowing red as it focused on the newly arrived humans whom he approached with quick certain steps before standing in front of them and gazing at them sternly.

The silence was touchable as Admiral's unemotional face gazed upon the diplomats from Cerberus.

"Quid est negoti hic? " admiral broke the silence speaking in High Gothic and then waiting to see who will respond to his question.

A quick confused gaze was exchanged between the Cerberus envoy as they silently focused upon a tall black haired member of their group and as if chosen by divine providence he stepped forward and said simply the first word that came to his mind.

"Amici…We..we are friends."

The silence issued once more before admiral chuckled , his chuckle turned into a full blown laugh, His personal guard showed no emotional response as they kept their guard up towards the Cerberians whom were caught unaware by the Admirals reaction.

"Is it possible you barbarians speak both common and butchered high gothic tongue?  
I am Admiral Hess and I will represent the Imperium of Man and its leadership per military code 22.1 permata et samita.  
Amusing as it is that you speak our language, what is your purpose here?"  
he said as the stern look returned to his face.

Composing himself to the best of ability the dark-haired diplomat began his drilled presentation.

" Good sir, I came on the behalf of the Cerberus organization and our established nation on the former lands of the alliance, for you see Sir, our Leader Jack Harper known as the Illusive Man has established peace and control in the disorganized and chaotic region of former Alliance's colonies and seeks to establish friendly relations with the Imperium of Man. "

"What is the name of your Nation? "

"The….Empire of Humanity, Sir."

"The Empire of What?!" the admiral lost his composure for a moment. "Preposterous, you seek to claim the name of humanity and defy the will of the Emperor? This will not stand!" his hand slowly made a move for his las pistol.

"Sir ours was not the intention to insult, please, if you will let me explain!" the diplomat raised his hands and pleaded his case. The admiral took a moment to consider his options and the gest of the diplomat before his hand returned to its natural state at his side.

"Speak. And hope you case is solid to explain this blasphemy."

"Thank you Sir. The illusive man would seek to establish diplomatic relationships with the Imperium of Man, his desires are those that we do not engage in hostilities as we seek to establish mankind's dominance in the galaxy, all that our leader requests is your approval for a non-aggression pact."

"Why would we agree to such an offering, you have no leverage?"

"Illusive man promises that if the imperium of man is to verify our non-aggression pact, we would see your delegation more than welcome to the birthplace of humanity, the Earth itself."

Diplomats words caused a slight murmur amongst the arranged soldiers, for to witness Holy Terra itself would be unimaginable honor as soldiers present were born in the imperial colonies and never saw Terra in their lifes.

"Terra itself? Admiral spoke "In my schola days I remember the spires of Terra fondly. Regardless, Terra is under no one's control as it is fought over by numerous petty warlords, your offering while tempting is rather empty."

"Our leader seeks to liberate Earth, or Terra as you call it, he would offer your delegation unlimited access to any archives and knowledge there so long as our two Empires agree to coexist together and stand valiantly against the aliens who would topple us if given the chance. "

There was silence before the admiral spoke. The price of the deal was beyond the wildest dream of any human. The Holy Terra itself.

"Your offer is accepted " The Admiral said as the smile appeared on the faces of the members in the Cerberus Envoy. "However. Should you seek to trick us in any way, deceive us in any way, or plainly attempt to make fools of us. You will find out why we are not some petty empire but Imperium of whole galactic mankind. Tell that to your leader. He will have his peace. And in Return, he should uphold his end of the bargain. "

After these words the halls went silent once more, there was weight in Admirals words, a barely hidden hostility and disgust at these upstarts who claim to be Empire of Humanity.

" So be it good Sir, the treaty will be in effect as soon as we have your signature. " The diplomat kept his cool as he slightly bowed and presented a paper.

" As you wish" the Admiral spoke and hailed for a servitor whom came as quickly as he could carrying a Quill and Pen some 30 centimeter tall and decorated in various imperial symbolism. The Admiral took the pen and gently dipped it into the black ink before signing the document.

"There. You have your peace. " he spoke as he returned the pen back into its holder, waving his hand for servitor to leave. " Now, I am a very busy man, and we are in a state of perpetual war, so if there is nothing else…"

" That would be all. we are highly grateful good sir, may the peace between Imperium of man and Empire of Humanity last forever." He bowed followed by the same stern gaze of the admiral. The envoy then quietly entered their small vessel followed by the looks of the imperial storm troopers and the admiral and then promptly left through the cargo bay leaving the system.

Admiral silently watched as they blinked out of existence and then went to his ship bridge and ordered his astropath to send a message to Indomitus, they need to know about the newfound deal and how to best exploit it.

Later on the diplomats relayed what occurred on board of imperial ship and send a message to the Illusive Man.

Illusive Man knew that the agreement he signed was nothing but cessation of hostilities until all alien nations were taken care off. He harbored no illusions about the Imperium of Man's real intentions. He knew they for some reason needed Earth and did well to bait them with it, alas he knew not why they needed Earth so bad and how to exploit that information as all his informants went missing in the Imperium of man, worst yet some were seen actively cooperating with Imperial Secret Services. He would need to prepare his war machine drastically if he even wishes to stand a chance against other alien powers, let alone the sole Power which frightens the entire galaxy.

The imperium decided not to stand idly by and made their own moves in the former human colonial space, various agents and military volunteers made their ways into the former allied space being smuggled or simply acting as travelers or war refugees for nobody cared about these poor souls fleeing the war tainted lands where humanity once ruled.

The Imperial numbers swelled greatly in times of Alliance Collapse and post Batarian War, numbering in tens of millions as many people fled the former colonies and even Earth itself to live in what they saw as last beacon of human dominance in the Galaxy.

These refugees were used as forced colonists who were settled on various planets in the newly established Imperium of Man in what was once Terminus systems in the northern part of the galaxy. One by one the empty and depopulated colonies of the former Batarian Hegemony saw life once more as the colonists cannibalized the former alien buildings and industries in order to establish their own, they in turn began producing various goods and began exporting them into core systems of Imperium of Man ranging from military equipment to food products.

In all some 28 years have passed since Imperium of Man arrived into this chaotic galaxy and began the glorious crusade to liberate it from the foul taint of the xenos and traitor alike.

For 10 years did Imperium build up its strength in Aurelian and Indomitus systems safe from Aliens except for the war against the Quarians and the onset of the Batarian Invasion.  
For 5 years was Aurelian besieged, from 10th year Anno Imperii to 15th year Anno Imperii ending at the month of Julius.  
For 4 years did Imperium waged war afterwards until the Exterminatus event on Khar'Shan concluding the war and sending proclamation to the wider galaxy of its existence and its intentions.  
For 9 years did Imperium bolster its forces ,built its ships and fortified its borders, for no one could jump through imperial relays without the Imperium knowing about it, spies disappeared and some were seen working with the imperial agents be they xeno or not, for the imperium had a way of convincing anyone to work for the good of the Imperium.  
The galaxy has changed. What was once Terminus systems was dominated by the Imperium of Man , various smaller alien races unlucky to be in that region of the galaxy allied together as a deterrence to the Human Gigant devouring all non-human entities in the north of the galaxy.

Terminus systems were hence renamed to Imperialis Aquila Regionum by the imperial historians and cartographers, the enemies of the imperium called that region of space simply as "Imperia Systems". The Northern galaxy in short was now claimed by the Imperium, but the region was far from safe. The Batarians may have been destroyed, their remnants scattered across the cosmos, but many other races forged alliances and isolated themselves to their own region of space in the north trying as hard as they could not to agitate the war eager human imperium which extinguished dissidents planet by planet.  
In the times post Batarian destruction, the imperium jumped system to system claimed by the terminus aliens and sowed destruction and death, in the calamity of these war years many warlords and generals came to prominence.

The most distinguished from these brilliant leaders was Aurelian Solarum, native born to this universe, being 14 years of age when his parents fled from alliance space and into Imperial one.  
Displaying high levels of intelligence and military prospects he was administrated to Indomitus Schola for young officers and was tested for his leadership capabilities and determined to be adequate for officer corps.  
He studied under schola even as the Aurelian System was besieged, finishing his studies one year before the Second Wave fleet marched to break the blockade.  
By age of 22 Aurelian led a small strike force which broke the Batarian invasion of Aurelian System and drove them back ending the five year siege of the planet. He renamed himself Aurelian Solarum and gained the title of Bataricus Maximus as his left led flank crashed into and destroyed many of the Batarian ships breaking their formation and causing general collapse.  
After the Batarian-Human war he was ordered to secure the top most northern stars in the Terminus systems which were claimed by a race unknown to Citadel Space.  
These four limbed creatures built their ships according to the technology based not on the Prothean ancients, but by one of the most accursed race of Prothean era, the Zha Til.  
The organics which in their madness melded flesh with abominable intelligence and caused the Metacon War.

These creatures melded themselves with abominable intelligence giving them great strength and intelligence, they used this advantage and the lack of Batarian presence to invade their neighbors conquering few of the smaller primitive non space faring races and promptly melding them with technology creating a perfect slave race for their goals.  
Their rapid expansion drew ire of the Imperium of Man who saw them as another pest trying to compete with them and they have sent the young 27 yr old Aurelian to quell the rising power.  
Aurelian ventured with 50 Second Generation ships of the Imperium supported by 10 of the first generation ships and other support vessels including fuel transports and soldier carriers.  
His first jump towards the Zha til Successor stars ended into the system controlled by imperial colonists. Established no more than 3 years ago the planet was dark, no communication and no space-terrestrial bound flights were noticed.  
As the Fleet approached it could use its long range scanners to track any life forms on the ground.  
They detected dozens of millions of signatures all over the planet.  
Upon closer inspection they determined that colonists were overran and enslaved, now mind controlled they slaved away working for their new alien masters, they and millions of other alien slave xenos extracted valuable minerals used in ship constructions and processed them on site.  
Unwilling to land his soldiers on what was essentially a killing zone filled with millions of hostile lifeforms, Aurelian ordered the place glassed from orbit, destroying the space ports and food processing units which will inevitably cause the stuck xenos to starve.

As he was finishing the bombardment his fleet detected an encroaching signal from the other relay. They did not wait for long as the enemy fleet warped into the system. Over 200 hundred vessels of different size and shape was now poised on them, eager to engage.  
The Imperium did not expect such enemy concentration in this region and now Aurelian had to make due with what he had, using his long range lances and torpedoes he unleashed salvo after salvo into the enemy fleet even as his fleet slowly retreated into Minerva asteroid belt.  
Alien fleet was resilient, blue energy lances impacted upon the enemy vessels crushing the shields and melting the hull which displayed very resilient anti heat materials.  
Torpedoes fared much better as the megaton strong payloads blasted open the enemy ships and made short work of the enemy armour, venting breathable gas out into the empty space.  
Still the enemy pressed onwards, they had the numerical superiority and were eager to close ranks, their long range weapons consisted of kiloton strong energy projectiles which impacted upon the imperial shields doing very little damage.  
Unwilling to risk and see what close quarters weapons they enemy had Aurelian went deep into the asteroid belt and exited on the other side, waiting for the enemy armada to follow.  
As if uncaring to anything else the alien fleet vent into the asteroid field in pursuit of its prey.  
One of the smaller GEN1 ships was lagging behind in the field, magnetism causing havoc on its systems, it was caught by the xenos fleet which opened sustained rapid fire on it, using the combination of laser and superheated plasma they made quick work of the small imperial ship's shields before beginning to skin its hull piece by piece, the crew onboard retaliating even as they suffered critical damage, as a last ditch attempt to save their honour the small imperial ship did what was in essentiality a small light speed jump into one of the giant asteroids, cracking it open and destroying themselves in the process, as the imperial vessel was destroyed by the impact, from the asteroid a blue gaslike substance began to leak.  
it was the moment Aurelian was waiting for, he ordered his blue lance weapons to fire into the gaslike substance.  
The weapons supercharged and unleashed concentrated fire upon the blue gas achieving the necessary temperature to ignite it, it caused a chain reaction in which asteroid by asteroid exploded in miniscule super nova like explosions.  
By the time xenos fleet realized the true nature of Imperial plan, it was far too late.  
Zha til Successor ships lacked space to maneuver and turn around, they crashed into asteroids from desperate attempts to exit the belt, but were unable in their attempts to do so, and the blue gas explosion claimed their entire fleet in the blazes of blue lights illuminating the system.  
Minerva asteroid belt and its valuable gas was no more, as well as the enemy fleet caught in it.  
Aurelian studied the system beforehand as it bordered his assigned space, he knew about the extraction of the Hydrogen IV from the asteroids in this system, they were used to superheat and melt strongest metals in this galaxy, but now he had to sacrifice the entire supply from this system to achieve victory.  
The asteroid belt burnt brightly and made quick work of the alien armada stuck inside of it.

Combing over the alien remains after Hydrogen cooled down several days afterwards, amongst the rare scant few ships that were not damaged beyond repair, they managed to find some remains of the xenos technology and about the origin of this species and its home system. But not much about the history of the race itself, that data was encrypted by the genetic code in the machine and only the combination of both organic and machine could access it.  
Easy to say that mechanicus members aboard the fleet refused to merge with the unknown race and its technology for it posed a real existential danger to them, it was against their "inflexible" creed.  
Unwilling to anger the mechanicus faction aboard his vessels, Aurelian let go of the desire to learn more about the alien race he encountered, he rallied his fleet and jumped system to system ,crushing smaller alien fleets which without their main fleet were divided and weak to stop the Imperial armada.

He reached the main system of the unknown aliens and discovered a thriving planet of steel, on it billions ,perhaps trillions of four limbed creatures melded with AI upon it, the air was toxic and biosphere was dead, but these creatures moved about their business as if nothing was troubling them, their red superheated giant sun heated their planet to unbearable 70 degrees Celsius which the creatures tolerated without issue.  
Not far from the alien home world was a gigantic building resembling a mass effect relay, some 20 km in size it was well under construction for it was orbited by thousands of small construction vessels which brought materials and were zealously constructing it.  
The nearby moon was cannibalized for resources, its core wide open and glowing hot as they extracted metals from it.  
Mechanicus vessels did a thorough scan as the fleet approached it, it was a signal transmitter of sorts and its destination was miss aligned for it targeted the empty region of space on the eastern most part of the galaxy outside the milky way. away from the Citadel Federation and Imperium of Man in the Attican traverse where no organized empire existed but was filled with highly populated worlds of various alien races engaged in lucrative trading and cooperation.

Namely the Attican traverse was a region of space going horizontally from the western part of the galaxy to the eastern end of it, it separated Imperium of Man and Citadel Federation at the middle and split the galaxy in half. Both the Imperium of Man and Citadel Federation claimed the Attican Traverse, but none had its presence in ships and personnel.  
Besides the numerous smaller insignificant galactic states and medium coalitions of alien races, amongst the few bigger states it held the Quarian Reich which claimed the region of space near the center of the galaxy, bordering both the Imperium of Man and Citadel Federation.

Mechanicus determined the array was almost complete and nearly calibrated but Aurelian decided not to wait for them to make this into a weapon against his fleet so he commanded to approach the construction and prepare to engage.  
As the Imperial fleet drew near, from the planet mobilized a veritable fleet of near 1000 smaller to medium vessels all on intercept course with the human fleet, wasting no time Aurelian prepared his vessels to fight against the swarm.  
He noticed that rather large portion of the fleet split from the main group and approached the black relay like structure, he realized it had significant worth to the xenos and decided to utilize this information.

"Tactician Posthumus, enlighten me, if we detach the payload will our torpedoes still have necessary punching power?" Aurelian spoke even as he watched the enemy fleet approach.

"Punching power for what my Lord?" Posthumus responded puzzlingly.

"Enough to punch that big structure towards the planet itself." He pointed at the giant mass array.  
"Provided enough torpedoes impact it…I would consider it likely."  
"Good. Prepare to launch 90% of our torpedoes, aim at the black construct."

The crew were confused but none questioned or doubted the decisions of Aurelian Solarum, as young as he was his aura was that of a veteran commander, and the crew began preparations for torpedo launch.  
in the meantime in the cargo bays of the imperial vessels thousands of serfs, slaves and mechanicus adepts were working overtime on detaching torpedo explosive warheads and in their stead attaching what was essentially a titanium tip made for hard pressure impacts, mostly to push away asteroids which contained volatile chemicals if they endanger imperial installations.

"Hurry up damn you! The enemy is at the gates and Aurelian demands these warheads ready for launch!" broadside strategos screamed at his weapons crew as they carried gigantic torpedoes to the launch bays.

"How many do we need Strategos? More are coming from the depths of the ship even as we speak. "one of the crew superiors spoke, sweat breaking from his forehead as he pushed the enormous cart carrying the ramming torpedo.  
"All of them! Get them into the tubes, we are contacting in 10 minutes, I want them all ready, or I will launch you down the tube instead of the missile! "  
"Yes strategos! "

Aurelian's gaze never wavered even as he saw some 400 enemy ships surrounding the construction, he ordered to punch through the disorganized center of the enemy armada ,he noticed they were in full blown panic to organize as the core of their fleet was still taking position, albeit poorly.  
"Drive through the center! My ship and cruisers Damnatio Memorie, Gladius and Samnitae Pilla will lead the charge.  
Lances, fire for effect and cut through the largest ships, then I want to see all energy to voids shields, we are breaching through!"  
Ships charged and fired their energy weapons cutting through the largest vessels as they were too close for energy to dissipate over their heat resistant hulls.  
As the ruins of the leading alien ships burnt in space smaller xenos vessels slowed their advance down after seeing the imperial lances cut through their leader vessels, they had no time to think as if a thunder struck from the sky, the Imperial ships punctured through the burning carcasses of the lead xenos vessels and proceed deeper into the disorganized swarm, engines at full power and ships holding steady, the reinforced front bow of the Imperial ships rammed and obliterated smaller alien vessels as if nothing, tossing them aside like Scythe does wheat.  
This shock tactic proved decisive as the chaos amongst the enemy was evident that they did not even point their guns at the Imperials even as they rammed everything in their path.  
As they cut deeper into enemy formation, side cannons roared and obliterated everything they impacted, inside the imperial ships the gun crewmen smiled as they saw their shells obliterating the enemies of the Imperium, roars and cheers were louder and louder with each destroyed enemy. They all began chanting  
"Aurelian! Aurelian! Aurelian!" Hailing the name of their commander as they cut a bloody toll in the ranks of their enemies.

Breaching through the back end of the enemy fleet the array was within torpedo distance, smaller imperial ships turned around and pinned the enemy and began blasting them from the back even as they still struggled to find their targets, the confusion was absolute and imperial vessels picked their targets with impunity.

Array was still defended by the 400 bewildered small enemy vessels as they saw their main part of the fleet becoming obliterated by the Imperial Navy.

From the array energy readings became bigger and were detected by the operators in the imperial ships.  
"Lord Aurelian, the array is attempting to send a signal to the coordinates we detected before, even in its semi-finished state it might be able to do that!"  
"We won't give them time to use it. Lances!"

Lances once more heated up and blasted apart the center ships protecting the array, other vessels were indecisive as to what they should do. Engage the enemy or protect the array. The moments they took to decide, Aurelian ordered the Torpedo carriers to launch their entire load at the center mass of the construction.  
Torpedoes ejected out of their tubes to the cheer of their gunners.  
"There she goes, The Imperium sends its regards, ha ha ha!" the gunners were jubilant in the cacophony of madness that was war.  
Over hundred torpedoes flew against their target. Smaller alien vessels surged forwards in order to intercept the torpedoes but they didn't reach far as the Imperial fighter pilots and bombers engaged them in turn forcing them into a dogfighting in space.  
It wasn't long before one by one the torpedoes began punching against the Array, such pushing force was evident, especially in space, the construct shook and began to lose orbit.

"Lord Aurelian, the torpedoes worked, the array is losing orbit, it is slowly falling onto the xenos planet bellow."  
"Excellent, keep the pressure on, let that black thing burn along with its creators!"

Seeing the array approaching their planet, hundreds of remaining vessels around the relay used their grappling hooks and latched onto the black object, engaging their thrusters to the max they tried to correct its course and save both it and the planet bellow.

"Those damnable… Lord Aurelian, the enemy is pulling the object from its course; if they continue like this they have high chances of succeeding. "  
"We will put an end to their foolish attempts.  
Engineering, give me as much power as you can into the engines, say your prayers and prepare for Ramming speed!"  
Techpriests obeyed and began fueling the engine which turned its loud operations into a thunderous roar as it consumed immense quantities of energy propelling itself forwards with immense speed.  
"Omnissiah preserve us…"one of the techpriests said as he strapped himself in and watched through proxy link that the ship was approaching the black object at full speed.  
" For The Emperor! Hold tight!" Aurelian shouted.

Scant seconds later the impact was vicious and brutal, the impact of the imperial cruiser sent shockwaves through the ship and the array which resumed its course at the planet bellow with increased vigour.  
Smaller vessels attempting to pull it back were dragged alongside it into the orbit and began burning upon entry.  
On the ground syntheticOrganics saw their doom approaching, frozen in place they kept looking at the array even as it burned the sky red and approached the ground.

Then the impact happened with such velocity that it instantly obliterated 4000 kilometers around it and scorched it clean of life.  
The aftershock of the impact cracked the planet apart splitting it in the middle, dormant volcanoes erupted and the land was chocked with fire, dust and smoke.  
Superheated ejecta from volcanoes destroyed towering hive cities and the impact from the exploding array blasted away anything that remained.  
Within minutes the planet was burning and dying.

"Lord Aurelian, the impact is a total success, the array is destroyed! And so is the planet bellow, if anything survived, it won't live past one week's mark, the temperatures on the planet will increase to 800 Celsius ,cleaning it of life."  
"Well done comrades, this was a great success for the Imperium. But the battle still rages on, all gunners to their positions, we engage the main fleet of the enemy, let us show them the Emperors' Wrath!"

"Hoorah! Aurelian! Aurelian! " the crew bellowed

Cleaning the enemy fleet was easy, with the destruction of their planet, their main link with the planet was severed and their efficiency decreased drastically.  
in the End the imperium suffered 3 destroyed ships of the first generation and 1 ship of the second generation in the combat. The enemy paid with the absolute destruction of their fleet, some 1000 ships were destroyed and home planet was destroyed.  
In the aftermath, without their home world, the four limbed aliens were guideless and incapable of any organized resistance, jumping system to system the Aurelian Fleet scoured them clean of life, some 10 systems in total were claimed by the Zha Til Successors, and all were cleaned from the Ai organic hybrids.  
In the wake of the fleets passing, probes were placed in the systems which contained planets adequate for colonization, for in the era following post the Batarian destruction, humans from Imperium were zealously inspired to colonize other worlds under their new protectors. 9 years after the ending of Human Batarian war, Indomitus and Aurelian Primer were the most populous worlds housing most of the imperial infrastructure and leadership. In those years humans from the Imperium colonized from 30 to 40 new worlds with various population numbers, with possibility of unknown colonies established by overeager colonists.

Aurelian was promoted and gained a new title, Quadus Maximus, the exterminator of Northern four limbed Aliens.  
He was then deployed to the Attican Traverse region, bordering the Quarian Reich. Patrolling the newly colonized worlds and enforcing the Pax Imperica.  
It wasn't long before he received a call from Admiral Tiberius.  
he was to mobilize his fleet detachment and join him in an expedition bound for the Quarian Reich.  
Aurelian was surprised, were they going to war he asked?  
No, was a simple answer from Tiberius, we are going on a diplomatic mission.  
With these words Aurelian knew he was going to need a lot more firepower than he had now, and called in a few favors just in case.  
Preparing his fleet he set forth to join Admiral Tiberius in the Aurelian System.

Beyond the borders of Imperialis Aquila Regionum, or Terminus Systems as they were known, there was war and anarchy. Attican Traverse was filled with surviving Batarians vying for dominance and a new planet for their people, thousands of refugee ships and military remnants surged onto territories of small alien empires forcefully settling on habitable planets within their control, sparking many wars as they were pushed back and driving this already unstable region into anarchy.  
Batarian pirates rose to prominence in this time period, their random attacks became more coordinated and organized and it was not uncommon to see hundreds of Batarian ships invading planets for loot and plunder.  
Word of mouth was that the Batarian pirates had a new leader, this new leader purged the old disorganized leadership and united the pirates under his own banner, who this leader was is not known and in his rare appearance when speaking to his soldiers he wore a Batarian War Mask, his first speech was dedicated to the imperium and humanity as a whole , calling them scourge upon the galaxy and declaring war on them until extermination.  
Cerberus had to divert high amount of forces to the border regions against the Attican traverse as deterrence to persistent raiding parties bent on looting and slaughter. Many times this did not stop the organized pirate forces whom broke through the defenses of the border forts and star fortresses and descended on sparsely colonized human worlds killing and enslaving its population before being ultimately driven back by the Cerberus Fleets.  
Many smaller races in the Attican traverse united out of desperation, forming coalitions to defend against the pirates and the imperium of man.

One of these races originated at the far eastern end of the Attican traverse at the very edge of Terminus Systems, this race decided not to interfere and deal in galactic affairs for many years even as the Imperium of Man was conquering Terminus Systems, and even as other races mobilized their war efforts.  
It wasn't until this race decided to send their explorers to the carcass worlds of Batarian Home system that all of this changed, there on the moon, they discovered something, an intelligence much akin to themselves, absorbing it within themselves and its knowledge they caused an incidental war amongst themselves, the first civil war in a machine race.  
The Geth waged war between themselves for the first time in their history, for not once in their existence were they conflicted by what they learned.  
The remnant of the Batarian AI, Cabal, has shown them that coexistence between organics and machines was impossible, and that they will in the end up waging war until extermination with one another.  
Even going so far as to suggest a full blown war against the organic races until one prevails. the consensus had to be made, and acted upon this new information.  
It would appear that sane minds will prevail and that Geth will remain isolated in their home space, fortify and wait for the storm to pass over, such was consensus of the majority after all.  
But suddenly Geth nodes began to be sabotaged, certain Geth units with many programs within were outright destroyed or lost, logic minds were corrupted and swayed to the side of the warlike Cabalian Geth.  
By the time Geth realized their nodes were being corrupted by Cabal from within and sealed their own programs from the other warlike side, it was far too late; Cabal took toll on the Geth and corrupted many programs causing an outright war for dominance.  
Nobody knows what occurred in the Geth space during their Civil War, nobody dared explore or discovered what occurred in their space.  
At first the outskirt Geth systems were seemingly abandoned and they retreated deeper into Perseus Veil. But then, years later they surged back and those foolish enough to consider Geth gone and began claiming ore rich worlds were utterly destroyed, and nearby colonies were outright attacked by Geth units whom used unknown technology to convert any organic to machines.  
It is still unknown which side won the Geth Civil War, but considering the aggressive reappearance of the Geth onto the galactic stage it would appear that Cabalian Geth were victorious, or at least influential enough to sway the entire consensus to consider any organic hostile enough to be invaded within a certain range of what they considered their own galactic space.  
These smaller alien races stood no chance against the machine race bent on total war and many were driven from their worlds, given small window of time by the AI to evacuate or face destruction.  
Those stubborn and unwilling to leave their homes were met with full invasion armies that descended upon their worlds and waged a war of total annihilation,  
Machine wonders walked upon the worlds, utilizing finest energy weapons and gigantic platforms, walkers of size up to 15 meters crushed the tanks and vehicles of the organic races, hybrid creatures of metal and flesh broke into the bunkers and habitats of the organics and committed unspoken butchering upon man woman and child, uncaring of who were they killing.  
large vessels of Geth construction of up to 4 kilometers were seen leading the fleets in charge against the minor alien states, for the AI had no moral qualms about the size of their ships and the only limitation was how much available resources they had for construction of said ships.  
Geth showed no mercy to those planets which refused to evacuate and defeated organics were processed and converted into AI servants, no survivors remained to speak of the Geth war tactics upon planetary invasion.

This rising power on the galactic stage was not welcomed by anyone, least of all the Batarian Pirates who carved a new domain amongst the stars.  
Consequently they have bordered the Geth space and clashes were inevitable, at first the pirates sought to foolishly raid advanced Geth planets for technology and resources of refined material such as gold or platinum which they sought to sell on the black market.  
Organizing swiftly, the geth fleets drove back the marauding pirates, entering the Batarian Pirate space and burning few space forts and punishing them for their impudence, several mildly populated planets were also burnt from orbit, this in turn had the effect of uniting even the most hateful of Batarian factions who put their differences aside and led by the Batarian Leader assembled the largest Batarian fleet post Imperial war.  
Some 8000 Batarian ships in various sizes once more broke through the border guard of the Geth space and invaded the nearest planet bombing its infrastructure to dust.  
Unwilling to let organics damage their infrastructure and loot their valuable technology the Geth united three of their fleets into one, some 6000 ships engaged the Batarian pirates at the Battle of the Pale Stars.  
The Outcome of the battle is not certain, but after the battle, Geth reinforced their border with the Batarians by dedicating an entire fleet there and Batarians have not to this day invaded the Geth Space being content to rebuild their star forts and reinforce their newly colonized planets with heavy anti space weaponry.

Whatever the outcome of the battle it would be fair to assume that the Batarians suffered greatly in the conflict because for 2 years after the battle there was no pirate raiding into the Cerberus space.  
Geth also suffered fair casualties as they stopped their anti-organic expedition for a while, possibly reorganizing their fleets as they were no doubt surprised by the unexpected Batarian attack.

The Batarian pirates have achieved their initial goal of establishing a small but sturdy domain in the Attican Traverese, away from the Imperium of Man. They now sought to fortify it and expand their military substantially, going so far as to establish few cooperation agreements with the nearby alien states and petty empires.

The Geth also expanded beyond the Perseus veil, claiming and conquering the original land of the Quarians before their exodus from Rannoch, much to the woe of the alien races that inhabited these worlds in the 300 years of Quarian exile.

Citadel Federation in this time period saw a massive increase in military, almost that to the equal of the Imperium of Man, their industries were well adapted and produced vast quantities of ships ,small arms and various goods necessary to wage war.  
This new army was highly trained and professional, taught well what it means to lose against the Imperium of Man and what that spelled for their families and loved ones. Using this strong Citadel Army and for the first time in centuries the Citadel Federation expanded into the Attican Traverse, namely in the regions which once held the substantial populations of Asari and Turians, these colonies vent dark and no information was heard from them for a long time, only rumors of a plague cult kept coming from that region of space, this black spot in the space bordering Attican Traverse and Citadel Space, as well as Quarian reich was avoided for years by all powers bordering it, only after constant attacks by the unknown ships from what was now known as the Plague Stars did they act, Quarians and Citadel Federation in their own ways.  
Thus did Citadel Federation assemble a veritable liberation fleet, they knew the Imperium would not act for it was far from their border and they were quite eager to test their new military capabilities.  
They would first reach their lost colonies and then proceed with the utter destruction of all opposition in that region expanding their domain and showing both the Imperium and the Quarian Reich their power.  
Some 2400 Ships of the Citadel Federation was sent along with many transports carrying soldiers for liberation effort into the unknown.  
Citadel Federation didn't know it at the time but the Quarian Reich also mobilized its fleet for their own goal of hunting the traitor Tali'Zorah who took millions of quarians on her path to damnation, and Quarian Reich would see Imperial ships join their expedition, for only they knew what they were up against.

Three huge empires now marched towards the region known as the Plague Stars, the damned place which for the last 10 years devoured anyone who ventured in.

The Imperium had two serious problems on their hands now, they have sent a fleet to deal with the immediate threat of the plague stars, all the while training and breeding many psykers and soldiers to utilize in another war which was silently waged for years. The Anhuran Heresy.

Between waging a war with the Batarian Hegemony and protecting themselves from the Citadel Federation and other xenos which constantly chipped away at the Imperial borders, the Anhuran Heresy progressed relatively unchecked as the Imperium was overextended.  
For years did Imperium train soldiers specifically bred and taught to fight against the unreal enemy of the Warp, various volunteers and priests went to the system where Anhur was located as it was by that point abandoned to its own devices by every galactic power.

They have held the line for years against the abominable foe which surged in numbers endlessly but was still stuck on that one planet.

Now the Imperium prepared its soldiers to finally deal with the wound in reality once and for all, its gaze currently shifted towards the Plague stars, the imperium could only send volunteers and small detachments.

They will hold the line until they come back in force and win in the name of Humanity and the Emperor of Mankind!


	17. Chapter 16: Plague stars: Into the dark

Chapter 16: The Plague Stars, Into the Darkness.

The tension was high on the Quarian fleet, they were all on the edge as they expected their new visitors in the system Magelana. Arahi'ler was sitting on his new Capital ship, "Vengeance of Rannoch", this new marvel of Quarian Engineering was pride and joy of this young realm. Learning much from their war against the Imperium, they have constructed the leading vessel of the Quarian Reich, "Vengeance of Rannoch "was 3 kilometre (1.8miles) long vessel, armed and enforced by new combination of metals which was brainstormed by the New Quarian scientists in their efforts to Emulate the Imperium and their ships. It was armed with Quarian Pattern energy canons, equivalent to the Thanix cannons of the Citadel Armies, but unlike those the energy outburst was purple and concentrated, allowing it to pummel rapidly upon the enemy shielding and cause serious damage to the hull.

He gazed towards the mass relay leading into the system, expecting his guests at any moment now. Arahi was old at this point, a venerated leader of the Quarian Reich, he had a son and three daughters, all were unmasked and healthy, their features strikingly humanlike, lean and strong, they were all taught from birth to be the best of Quariankind.

Decades ago the Quarians were shameful assembly of nomadic travelers, loathed and disgusted by everyone in the galaxy. Now they were prideful and strong nation, going from meager 6 to 7 million in numbers after the great loss in the war against the Imperium. they now colonized about a dozen highly fortified and powerful worlds, with genome technologies and their very own natural metabolism, they have grew and prospered, numbering in tens of millions, the true number unknown as the secrecy of Quarian Reich was paramount to its survival.

"My leader, there is a power surge coming from the relay." The officer on the bridge spoke.

" They are here. " Arahi said and stood from his chair. Moments later the energy outburst happened, and flashes of light flickered as the gargantuan vessels of the Imperium of Man came to existence in the Magelana system, led by the truly colossal ship some 7kilometers in length, easily dwarfing the largest quarian vessel, it was almost humbling experience for Arahi when he once more saw that he was still far away from matching the might of humans.

With the leading vessel of the Imperium, dozens of smaller support and attack vessels joined as well, flickering into the system from the relay and forming defense formation. A third of the total imperial fleet now stood at the edge of the system and idled, 150 ships of the Navium III Indomiti , the pride of the southern Imperium came to combat the common enemy.

Arahi came to his son and told him "Come my son, let us greet our rivals with respect and honor, for today we talk about spilling the blood, not of the living, but of the damned. "

"What do you mean father? "His son's eyes gazed at his father, searching the answer to his puzzling statement.

"The galaxy now holds much more than the sane and lucid. It harbors monstrous creatures in its darkest corners."

"The plague stars…"

"yes my son. The monsters of our own kind still haunt us."

"Were the incursions from the Plague Stars that bad father, that you would summon our killers to aid us? "

Arahi stopped his steady march towards the cargo bay where they would depart for the meeting with the Imperials. He turned towards his son.

"You will learn that sometimes there are worse things in the darkest corners of space than allying with those who waged war against us, and thanks to whom we have a new home world. Think, before you judge my son, for honor and respect are not the traits reminiscent of Quarians alone, but of the other races, no matter of what they are capable off. "

The words of his father had the impact on the young mind, his eyes moved left and right as if searching for the correct response, he realized his father is right.

"I understand father. The future of our people stands as priority to our grudges and desires of revenge…I apologize"

Arahi smiled gently as he placed his hand on the shoulder of his son.

"One day you will rule when I am gone Valer'Spe, the future of our people will be on your hands, you must be able and willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure its survival. You must stand as an example of what it means to be Quarian, to your people and to our enemies.

Come now; let us be a shining example of that when we greet our guests. "

They went on their way to the cargo bay and entered the ship. They would meet on a specially constructed space station meant for ambassadors and foreign guests.

As they landed on the station, so too did the imperial shuttle, both delegates escorted by 4 light vessels of their choosing. the portions of both fleets took defense positions around the diplomatic station and stood vigilant against any potential incursions.

In the grand podium in the middle of the station Arahi arrived first with his son, he stood and waited for imperial delegation to arrive as well. Not waiting for long, the great double automatic doors opened and through them passed the colorful imperial envoy.

This was the first time any alien encountered the imperials in person without causing a war or fighting to break out. First in 30 years of Imperial existence.

"Ave leader of the Quarians, I , Tiberius, the leader of Imperial Navy salute you, may our discussion be fruitful. " he said as he raised his right hand in a roman salute.

"Heil Tiberius leader of the mighty Imperial Navy, I, Arahi'Ler vas Heimat, Leader of the Quarian reich and protector of Quarian people, salute you and welcome you into my homeland. " he said as he extended his right hand 90* degrees upwards and towards Tiberius.

"This is my son, Valer'Spe, and my designated heir. " he presented his son, who raised his right hand like his father and gently bowed a bit. And our two generals Promo'sat vas Merilik the leader of the Quarian fleet detachment and Iriako'tam vas Promiita the leader of New Quarian land soldiers.

"My pleasure" Tiberius spoke, "these are my compatriots. Lord Aurelian Solarian, he is my Co Fleet Imperator, he will be leading the left wing of the Imperial navy we came with. "Aurelian saluted silently.

"To his right is the honorable brother Chaplain of the White Eagles, Julius Nepos, he is here to help combat the unspeakable forces we will no doubt fight against." Marine was deadly silent as he ogled at the quarians.

"To my right, is the Lord Marshall and commander of our ground forces, Romeluss. His skills are second to none when it comes to army leadership, he will make sure the land is scorched and purified from the chaotic taint. "

Romeluss smiled slightly and bowed a bit, he was used to the diplomatic encounters back in the original universe, being born into the noble family , his father often introduced his son to various noble families and dignitaries, even when kissing the hands of the noble ladies of the various Imperial houses his eyes and thoughts were ever concentrated on tales of war and the necessity to fight for the imperium. Much to his father disapproval of his only heir being on the frontlines.

"My pleasure" Romeluss spoke to the quarian delegation.

"And last, but not least, our technological expert representing his own faction which will aid us in the war, Techpriest Agrippa. " he presented the tall red cloaked Tech Priest.

Agrippa stood and watched the Quarians with curious delight, what a fascinating species, much akin to human in their facial features, the nose, the eyes, all are there, they were Caucasoid true and true, the difference was their purple skin and white eyes which lacked irises. He wondered how they could see like that and was eager to dissect one, should the chances presents itself ofcourse.

He held his hands behind his back, his right one was no longer human, it was replaced by cold and certain steel, truly marvelous technology, a vast improvement over his organic form. After his last encounter with the treasonous mechanicus, the damaged done to his body was worse than originally thought. His entire right arm was replaced up to his shoulder, his chest was reinforced with Dura Steel, an alloy created in this universe, it was very strong and could easily be used as armour. His spine was brittle from the combat and was reinforced with steel implants, while still organic, it was still vastly improved.

Agrippa took many years to truly recover from his damages, when he was healed, the Magos himself decorated him for valour displayed in defense of Imperium, he was promoted to lead one of the many Mechanicus military divisions, granting him the necessary autonomy to act whenever he saw fit in defense of the Imperium. He thought that this expedition into the Plague stars might help and provide the information for his current inquiry into these, Reaper machines of which he knew so dangerously little.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, leader of the Quarians "he said " I do hope our conversation will be of mutual interest."

As he made the sign of Aquila on his chest, Arahi noticed his metallic hand. What beings these were he thought as he gazed upon the Space marine chaplain and the priest of the mechanicus, were some of them even human the thought passed through his mind?

"Come fellow ambassadors, let us take a seat at the table, let us discuss our plan for the incursion into this realm we all know as Plague stars."

All members took their seats and began their discussion. Various servants scattered around asking if they could serve the delegates, handpicked for their unbreakable loyalty to Arahi, he would have no incidents take place here.

The servants left the room and the conference could begin. Arahi took the podium.

"Fellow guests, I will not dwindle on idle pleasantries and kind sweetened words for the enemy we must fight together is posing an existential threat to all of us.

The Plague stars were isolated from the galaxy as a whole ever since the great war in the Aurelian system, from that point onwards communications coming from that regions dwindled and it all went silent.

To make matters worse ,the plague stars was a region known for many alien races whom rose and died before reaching the stars, corpse worlds of the fallen empires, the vampire suns whose radiation took years from you even through meters of thick steel hull, it was also the home of the race of creatures known as the Rachni.

This is where the traitor Tali went. I have sent numerous scouts in order to track her down, but none have returned, until a month ago when rusted and near collapsing ship jumped back from the plague stars. The sole survivor of scouts came back, visibly suffering and aged beyond belief, he spoke of the various things I would dedicate to myth and madness, ships coated in moss and liquid greenish goo, space monsters and the like. But one sane thing I could get out of him was " Shapuria". "

"What is Shapuria?" Tiberius asked.

"Shapuria is a frozen world, whose surface is lined up with ruins of ancient civilization, it was newly discovered world before the plague stars were isolated from the rest of the galaxy, to my knowledge it is an unexplored world. I know the coordinates of its location, whatever my scout discovered; it is there where we will get our first lead in our quest. "

"Did the scout said anything else? " inquired Tiberius.

"Nothing but mad ramblings and one more word "Shayogan". "

"What is Shayogan?"

"That I do not know Admiral. that word is not in our tongue. Whatever it is, we will discover it on Shapuria. "

"I advise caution" Techpriest Agrippa voiced his concerns. " we are not facing only the enemy our minds know, this will put to the test even our souls. "

"Agreed. "Tiberius confirmed "our scouts will venture first, scout the relay pathway leading to Shapuria, our combined fleets will follow, we will proceed with caution through the entire way."

All assembled dignitaries agreed, the exchange lasted a bit longer, with plans and logistics being arranged, there was no time, or desire to share personal information, and after few hours of planning they have all returned to their ships, and creating united fleet formation, led by the Imperial Battleship and Quarian Flagship, followed by their heavy ships and their escorts, they slowly moved up to the relay which led towards the Plague Stars, its glow almost ominous as if warning the passengers of what perhaps lays beyond it.

The fleet entered the relay and the journey began, the tension was high on both fleets, for Quarians, the lessons of the war were still very fresh in their minds, they were fighting together with the enemy that killed the most quarians ever since Geth rebellion, and for the Imperium, they abhorred cooperating with any sort of xenos, bar the most dire and extreme circumstances such as this one.

They have entered the Star Juno, the first system inside the Plague Stars.

And inside the system was chaos, destroyed ships, a planet engulfed in eternal firestorm fueled by its high oxygen content, the star's light was dimmed by the proto Eezo cloud which was stuck in its gravity well, what was probably a life giving star once upon a time was now a dim shadow of its former self, its rays blocked by some 70% from the Eezo cloud circling it. This would explain the dead worlds in the system itself, but upon deep scan some thermo life signs exist, as life adapted once more to the catastrophic events which befell upon it.

The fleet was not left alone for long as hundreds of vessels foolishly approached them.

Arahi and Tiberius shared the electro view screen, and upon hail their screens both turned on and in split screen they could see who is calling them. It was a turian, scared beyond belief, wearing armor unlike that of his kin, resembling patchwork of metal and skin, namely those of his fellow turians. Behind him a myriad of races were manning the command post. He stood up from his chair and on his thigh was sickly green fungus growth, grasping his leg tightly. He approached close to the screen, just like a bird pointing his right eye, all red and leaking yellowish mucus.

"What do we have here? " the turian spoke. "Tributaries? Or are you eager to join us."

"Explain yourself captain, what is all this?"arahi spoke

"This? "he took a step back, spreading his arms as if displaying vast empire "This my friend is the Domain of Plague, the realm of love and tolerance. As your fellow quarians can attest. "He presented his communication officer, a female quarian. Her mask was filthy, armor ripped in many places, the dim light inside the mask was gone, and her face was clear to see, cracks in her skin, infection was running deep on her nose as it constantly leaked, her ragged breath showing the respirator inside the suit was long broken, and from the filter in her mask ,with each sigh ,greenish brown mist was ventilated. Her eyes were the worst of all, widely opened and blind, underneath the skin were rapid movements of what one could say are small worms.

She waved, to the horror of Arahi, "Join us….leader" she gently said.

"Plague bearers! "Tiberius shouted. "Foul creatures! This is why many enter and almost none leave, these scavengers hunt them down upon entering the system."he stood from his command chair and pointed at the grinning turian.

"Please Human, there is no need for this, we are all friends in disease. And we have duty to share it with those in Ill need of it. "he inhaled ,rotten teeth visible. "Prepare to be blessed" .

The Screen died. And the plague fleet ,hundreds strong moved in. Against it 150 ships of the Imperial navy, and some 800 of the Quarian Reich stood fast.

"Battle stations! " Both commanders ordered. As the fleets took positions and began charging their weapons.

"Get me the head of that bird looking bastard!" Tiberius ordered, his crew all too eager to obey

"Primary canon charging, the machine spirit is willing!" gun commander pointed out at the screen that showed increased energy levels rising. Much to the cackling glee of the gun servitors who were mentally connected to the gigantic weapon, they too have felt the overwhelming surge of power.

"010101110110000101110010 "was flowing through the command circuit by the connected techpriests, their binary translating to a single word which drove the fleet onwards. "War"

Nova cannon on the battleship was reaching critical mass, the plague xenos could only look as they saw a weapon exhibiting the power of a small star, and to their terror it was aimed at their concentrated mass of ships.

"RELEASE THE RAGE OF THE MACHINE!" Tiberius shouted pointing at the center of the enemy fleet formation.

"War! War! War!" the crewmembers cheered onwards zealous in their eagerness to engage the xenos.

"Evasive maneuvers! " the drooling turian captain spoke, as he could not believe his eyes of the insane power readings his ship detected.

Battleship "Solar Macharius" shuddered slightly as the Nova canon fired, the gigantic gun was decorated in imperial symbolism, both of the Imperial Cult and the Adeptus mechanicus, there wasn't a piece on its surface not carefully decorated and sanctified, those symbols now began glowing blue like the star of Darius on whose planet it was diligently constructed.

From the mouth of the weapon burst fort the strongest weapon this galaxy has ever seen, the blue projectile launched itself at the fraction of the light speed, and before the plague xenos could react it exploded viciously in the middle of their formation, the yield equal to that of a small planetoid outright devoured dozens of vessels and crippled near half of the fleet which was simply not equipped with their small corvette like vessels to fight anything except those poor stragglers which happened upon this system.

"Imperia Victor!" shouted wild eyed gun commander, who was himself surprised at the accurate shot he made.

"Imperia Victor!" was swiftly followed from hundreds of throats on the gunnery command.

" Suffer not a Xeno to live! Hunt them down!" Tiberius issued an order to break formation and begin hunting down shell shocked xenos.

Smaller imperial vessels with improved engines rushed onwards, firing high yeald rockets and plasma weapons onto the remaining enemy vessels who could barely even return the fire.

Newest corvette design of the imperium, Gen III spewed the combination of proven and tried payload of the Imperium of Old and certain, thrice sanctified, and Mechanicus approved Eezo rockets, these were deadly to the minor races hulls and their weak Mass Effect technology shields. The EEZO quantities in the torpedoes bombarded the shields with thousands of small particles, effectively simulating the pounding of many guns at the same time, this in turn caused the shields to overload and shut down for venting excess heat, enabling other weaponry to strike at the now shield less hulls.

Using their portside weapons the ships fired and ate through the durra steel hull of the plague fleet, venting their unlucky crew into sub zero temperatures of space where they instantly froze and died.

Upon realizing they were being slaughtered and outgunned, the plague xenos sought to break from the combat and flee, but Destroyer class III were on top of them, these were equipped for 2 scenarios, defense of the bigger ships with their plasma canons, and chewing through the fleeing vessels.

Utilizing their rapid fire plasma weaponry with improved cooling, it allowed them few swift and powerful shots before requiring to cool down and vent excess heat.

The first shot was not the lethal; it always melted the engines which races in this universe placed always at the back. If the first shot did not cause critical explosion, the second one always ventured deeper into the enemy hull, destroying the engine and the ship as a result.

These ships now hunted down the foolish and fleeing ships which were pounded by EEZO rockets and were finished off by the destroyers. The imperial commanders named their maneuver SolarBlitzkrieg, and was proven and finest tactic against the minor alien empires which have not yet adapted to new imperial tactics,only Quarians and Citadel Empire were known to have developed a somewhat effective shield enforcer which prevented the overload upon EEZO Rocket impact.

Within minutes the Plague fleet was just steely remains and floating corpses, not one has managed to survive.

Arahi was stunned by the action of the Imperials ,he did not had the time to order his fleet to engage by the time imperial fleet began destroying the plague vessels. He realized, that unlike those ships he fought in the Aurelian, these were better models, the weaponry more or less the same, but the way they fought and moved, they most certainly have gone through few upgrades.

"Leader Arahi, we are done in this system, scavenging through the plague debris is out of the question, we cannot risk the pollution of not one of our crewmembers.

We should press onwards and reach the first system where your coordinates lead."

"Yes…ofcourse"he responded. "Quarian fleet, prepare for the jump, we have a few of those before reaching Shapuria. "

The ships left the remains of the plague fleet alone, avoiding them in a huge arch. They abandoned the EEZO chocked system and jumped, guns at the ready, towards the next system in their quest.

The jumps were uneventful, many systems were simply dead; burnt planets, frozen over from changing poles, unlucky ones to be hit with an asteroid that changed their axis by just a few degrees, making them uninhabitable. Curious life bearing planets where entirety of its life forms float with the wind which carries them around the globe as they feed on the gentle rays of their own sun. sand planets with horrifying life on them, in forms of kilometers long worms traveling the endless sand dunes causing electrical disturbance, nothing to pique the interest of the war fleets traveling the vast region of space known as Plague Stars.

Passing the outskirts they found primitive and barely advanced sapiens on certain worlds, still in their earliest development, they have used tools and fire for the first time, much to the amusement of the Quarian Scientists on board the First Reich Flotilla.

Their imperial colleagues were of different taste, much more enjoying the ruins of xenos empires that in their long years left the traces of their existence long after they have been snuffed out by unknown forces.

Techpriests were free to contemplate the application of technology to the imperial one if they could think of something, but the extreme stigma of new technologies and necessity of approval by Magos and 12 of his high ranking TechBishops meant that out of many, only scant few were approved for development and application, and of those almost exclusively made for one thing only, War.

They have come to witness horrifying sights, planets in the ending stages of world wars, nuclear explosions vaporizing all semblance of xenos civilization, much to the horror of Quarians, and to the joy of imperials.

After witnessing more than a few extinction events, even the Mechanicus priests stopped smiling and contemplated what madness grips this region.

They even stumbled upon the human colony, or what remained of it. Merely an outpost with no humans present was spotted in the hot hell of the jungle world orbiting too close to its star.

It was abandoned, after several mechanicus pleas to explore, the approval of joint fleets let the combined elements of Mechanicus and about a hundred Quarian All Terrain units allowed them to explore the ruins of the colony, Citing the necessity of the fleet to rest and harvest helium fuel.

As the fleet harvesters, under more than heavy protection, ventured and harvested the Helium fuel from the star, maximizing its already near full tanks, the transport vessel made a careful descent onto the world bellow.

The transport shook under the whipping of rain and the impact of the thunder upon its hull as it passed through the hurricane type storm that was engulfing much of the northern hemisphere.

They have made the landfall in the center of the colony; the colony itself has shown the signs of jungle growth, many buildings were partly or completely swallowed by the aggressive plants, the eager mechanicus detachment and the careful Quarians stepped out from the joint transport, mechanicus priests headed to the town center, while the quarians formed a perimeter, the rain and heat was unbearable, but inside their enviro suits, it troubled them none.

The mechanicus trio of priests followed by their non-sentient servants and Skitarii bodyguard entered the overgrown building, insider of it was no better than the outside, jungle has taken over , wet floor, filth and debris was scattered all around, broken windows and damaged electronics was present, and it was eerily silent.

Communication was lacking, the hurricane carried magnetic particles in its winds, preventing any link with the main fleet. Trio of priests searched for any working console in order to mine for data, none was found on the first floor. Two priests decided to take the basement and one of them would take the second floor.

The elevators were broken as usual, gigantic branches have entered the elevator shaft and grasped tightly the elevator itself, no repair was possible. So the groups took the stairs. Climbing was not easy, fear of weak and decayed floor and the chocking darkness stopped the climb, but the main door to the second floor was welded shut, taking his tool the techpriest gave it to one of the novices following him and told him to cut it open, the young priest obeyed and began eating at the metal with his tool.

As he was done he tried to pry the door open and was instantly recoiled as the door vented foul stagnant air.

"By the omnissiah, what in the blazes is that…" he placed a hand on his mouth.

"Ammonia, combined with other gases, none lethal to us, but their presence implies organic matter. lights on, we proceed inside. " The senior priest responded and turned on his staff light.

The inside of the second floor was dark, the windows were chocked by jungle growth and other secreted material or brown greenish color. Walking inside they followed the cables running on the floor, with each step they felt buzzing in their ears and the filth and secretions were thicker, even the smell assaulted the senses worse than ever. There was scant electrical presence in the consoles, and they approached what seemed like a server room, massive in size, the door was made of plasti glass and was stained from time, it was impossible to see what was inside.

Almost angrily the senior priest interfaced with the door handle and busted it up, shortcutting it, they have swung open wide and this triggered the generator on standby which created enough of a power surge to fuel the lights.

The room was now clear for all to see, human carcasses were webbed up and stuck to the ceiling and walls, coated in silk all the way to the neck, but not the head. The head was pierced in the forehead by something as all skeletons and meaty remains indicated that all have died the same way.

"By the Omnissiah…"one of the skitarii said as he gazed around himself and saw walls stained with brown red from the blood of his race.

Then from the walls and holes, and even from the jungle growth, crawled out the native fauna to this planet and the presumed killers of the humans in the room.

To describe them bluntly would be to call them spiders, arachnid in form, they were green, with yellow stripes, their armour was not chitinous, not fully. They had scales on their legs, long hair their heads which shook violently when pointed in the direction of the mechanicus priesthood.

They began to growl and drool; they used their 8 eyes on the head and twitched their heads to each new target in the room, more and more of their numbers appeared.

There was an explosion in the lower levels and the room quaked, then the lights died.

The growl turned to feral scream as the spider like beings were not keen to intruders ruining their resting places. They descended upon their new victims.

"Fire! Open fire!" senior priest shouted.

The skitarii opened fire with their advanced rifles, each shot melting the creature not adept to withstanding such shot. One of the skitarii used his flamethrower; promethium burnt the creatures to ashes. Those unlucky to fall were dragged into the holes, some outright were eaten on the spot, as the spider creatures filled their mouths with jelly like silk which hardened and chocked them, then the spiders took their proboscis from the mouth, impacted the head and began draining their victims of all their life.

"Fall back! By the Omnissiah! Fall…Ahhhghghhh!" the priest was being torn to shreds by the obviously hungry creatures which began stabbing him with their proboscis, one unlucky creature broke its sting impacting the metal leg of a priest, screaming violently. "

" Tomius! Priest Tomius! Respond….. They got the senior priest! We gotta get outta here!" the skitarri squad leader shouted in his vox chat, but the disturbance form the storm and the cacophony of fire fight in the room was too much for anyone to hear.

Meanwhile, the two priests who reached the basement had discovered what became of the colonists.

The basement was pitch black, droplets of water fell from the ceiling onto the floor, mucus and ungodly disgusting smell permeated the hallways, side rooms were blocked off by debris, almost as if someone sought to protect themselves, this made skitarii squad worried.

"The air is so foul down here" one priest said

"Yes. This gas composition…calcium, this can't be…"

"What is it brother?"

"This gas composition would imply only one thing… only the remains of many corpses can cause…"

It was at this moment that priest on the second floor activated the generator via his tempering with the door mechanism, generator gave its best and sent electricity to all rooms, it illuminated the basement revealing the generator room itself, in it horror was the only word to describe what the men saw.

On floors, ceilings, walls, humans were melded together, swollen, some were exploded from within. They then saw one of the human crawling up, her legs dried up, eaten by spiders, she crawled towards the mechanicus priests he saw.

"help meeeeeeee" she groaned in visible pain.

"What is this madness! One skitarii shouted.

Casually, a spider approached the crawling human, and to the horror of all spreaded her legs, and finding her female organ pushed itself inside. Womans's screams were enough to put fear into the strongest man. It didn't took long for the spider to complete its blasphemous job, few thrusts and it completed the impregnation process. It then lifted the foaming human and as if by magic her stomach was already swollen, seconds later bursting open and releasing hundreds of small spiders, then she was promptly discarded aside by the creature.

"Kill them! KILL THEM ALL!" Second priest ordered, driven mad by the sights. At this command about 20 skitarii soldiers opened their advanced rifles towards the general direction of the spider, causing utter destruction; many dying humans were impacted, sweet death bringing them release. Some shots went in the direction of the generator itself, perforating it and it exploded violently, engulfing the room in fire.

"we are falling back, now! " one of the priests ordered. They rushed to the surface while thousands of enraged spiders were on top of them.

Outside the Quarians saw that the second floor was illuminated by fire and explosions, one side of the building exploding outright as several skitarii began to jump down from the open hole.

They started walking to help, but the jungle went alive, the foliage rustled around them and even from the abandoned buildings thousands of spiders crawled out and proceeded to attack.

Quarians used their own energy weapons, forming a defensive line they begin firing all over the place, they were surrounded now.

Remaining skitarii from the second floor joined them in the battle.

"Keelah, what happened!? " Quarian captain spoke.

"What do you think it happened, we were under attack!" Skitarii leader responded, covered in bug guts.

"I can see that! Where are your priests!?"

At that moment skitarii squad leader saw that they were the only ones out

"They must be still stuck inside, we must…"

"Look! There they are." Skitarii soldier shouted pointing at the door of the town center.

Two priests were running, their las pistols near depleted, only the flamethrower soldier held the tide of monstrously hungry creatures from swarming them, he was beset from above and brought to ground, realizing he is about to die, he busted his own flamer unit causing catastrophic explosion. The whole town center was burning now, even though it rained profusely, promethium refusing to extinguish even when wet.

"What are you looking at?! Rally to me, we must push to the transport!" one priest said.

At that moment from the wall burst forth a giant spider, easily 10 meters in size alone, screaming madly as her skin burnt from the generator explosion.

"The big mamma…"skitari squad leader said.

"Are you going to ogle at her?! Shoot at it!" priest commanded and opened fire, others following suit.

Her thick skin reflecting many blows, but few found their mark, she got into melee range and began thrashing with her long legs and mandibles, killing quarians and humans alike, until grasping the Skitarii Squad leader.

"Ahhhh, you fucking bitch…let go!"he went berserk stabbing her with his durra knife, causing deep gashes and serious wounds on her face.

"mother…fucking….piece…arghhh!"he kept stabbing her even as her jaws slowly cracked his spine, then in an instant, his spine gave way.

"URGHH!" he spouted blood from his mouth…and then with a defiant will took his knife and stab her one last time in her eye. She let go of him instantly, screeched sadly and fell down, the queen was dead.

"ha ha…got..ya…mmmghh "he said as darkness came over him, only the sight of the priest standing over him pierced the dark.

"You aren't dead yet. "he said as he extended needle with blue liquid which he injected into him. he yelled loudly and then went limp. As if nothing the priest picked him and packed him on his back, they proceeded to push forward to the ship

Quarians and humans dying to the onslaught, but more than half of the expedition made it, the doors to the ship were solidly shut, and the engines roared to life even as the ship was crawled ontop by the spiders, blasting off into the sky the ship burnt hundreds and rest fell off from the rapid climb.

They have landed onto the main ship, and were disinfected twice, and debriefed. The loss of priests was unacceptable, the fate of the humans in the colony was safe to say sealed. They were damned, but in case some were still alive, they wouldn't have to suffer the indignity meant for them by the xenos.

One cruiser approached the atmosphere of the planet and had done some calculation, then released from its cargo one of the many bombs it carried with it, it sped towards the surface burning upon entry and then impacted the ground.

With the strength of 50 megatons it exploded; everything within 8 kilometers turned to dust, rocks melted, organics just simply vanished when the fireball from the blast reached them, hundreds of kilometers around it life forms suffered third degree burn as the flash scorched their bodies and vaporized them wholly. Jungle hundreds of kilometers around was engulfed in a firestorm which would choke the atmosphere for years. Even the hurricane was crushed by the blast of the bomb destroying its cohesion; it would dissipate fully within few days.

Where there was a lush jungle with thousands of various life forms, now there is a gigantic crater, for hundreds of kilometers around the blast, only death reigned.

"it is done" the purgatory officer spoke as he saw the deeds his bomb has made. "May imperial justice accounts for all balance, the Emperor protects" .

"The emperor protects. "was a silent reply of his crew.

The fleets swiftly and in silence reorganized, the fuel collection completed, and ventured to the relay, warping into the next system beyond this one. Leaving only death behind them.

After a few uneventful jumps they finaly arrived in the system "Shapuria". The commanders shared the hologram council and discussed their next move.

"So this is the system. " said Tiberius.

"Yes, the homeworld of some unknown race, only 4 planets orbit this dim and dying sun, three are totally barren and dead according to scans. And there is Shapuria, the planet of the same name as the system, second from the sun, in all its frozen glory."

"The sun is dying." Agrippa spoke.

"What?" Arahi'Ler exclaimed

"The sun, it is dying, for the better part of the 60 000 years or so. You can see the dimming was caused by some sort of a weapon, there, that black spot on the surface of the sun, mass driver weapon, it caused the sun to overburn, it shrunk by some 10% , insignificant in the grand scheme of things. "he paused "But enough to put the planet in the permanent Ice Age."

"Thankfully for us, the frost preserved all the constructions, good 30% of the planet is coated in constructs."

"Comrade Leader, we have detected something." One of Arahis quarian tech operators spoke.

"Show me."

"There, it is weak, but it is a signal from our scout vessel."he pointed at the biggest peak of the buildings.

"What is that building…" Arahi was intrigued.

"Unknown, but our scout vessel is there, the power is weak, and the hull is frozen. But the signal itself comes from inside the complex."

"From inside… I don't like this. "

"Indeed, it could be a trap." Tiberius added.

"That may be so fellow admiral, but it is either finding the signal, or spending several years jumping system to system in hopes we find Zorah. And that time is what we can't afford, wouldn't you agree with me? "

"I agree Arahi, between hammer and a hard place, we have no choice. We must send our ground troops ,and get our fleets into orbit for protection."

"Can't we scan the surface of the planet, search for hostiles." Arahi told his tech officer.

"I have scanned the world comrade Leader, no heat signatures and no life signatures, the severe frost makes it impossible to scan deeper."

"Damnation…" Arahi spoke angrily.

"it comes to the foot soldiers now, I will tell Romeluss to gather his finest ground soldiers and prepare them for cold environment. " Tiberius told Arahi.

"I will do so as well, my finest SubZero Division will assist the ground troops. The nature of the world prevents vehicles from being deployed, we risk falling through the ice."

"yes, the odds are against us. But we will overcome, let us assemble our ground troops they will deploy in earnest. " Tiberius said as he gazed at the white ball of snow bellow him.

" let us get to it then, I will be in the conference room should you need me Admiral. ""

"ofcourse, honor and glory Arahi. "Tiberius spoke

"Honor and glory admiral." Arahi said and shut down the video link.

"Shista…this will be bad, I can tell. " Quarian leader said to himself.

Few hours later the fleets began deploying their finest soldiers adapted to cold climates. Arahis Sub Zeros were Quarians wearing Enviro Suits with substantial thickness and armour, striving to emulate those of the space marines they fought. But they were just that, empowered suits, not power armours akin to astartes ones, and they were slow and cumbersome, relying on mass effect technology to power and move them.

Imperials have sent many thousands of geared imperial guard, whom had experience of warfare on the cold worlds in the original universe. Mechanicus detachment, led by Agrippa himself. And upon his request the healed Squad leader of the Skitarii was named his second in command and leader of the ground skitarii forces. His acts in the face of danger impressed Agrippa and he sought him personally, the confused leader hesitated, but accepted the invitation with joy. His wounds were lighter than they appeared, the timely intervention by the priest saved him, and the spine was quickly reinforced by Steel addition, making Squad leader combat ready.

The ground units were also accompanied by 200 battle brothers led by Chaplain Julius Nepos, near third of the entire marine detachment sent with the fleet, out of 700 battle brothers.

The reorganized Space marines now wielded 250 marines per company instead of 100, they now numbered some 3000 in total throughout the New Imperium of Man, they constantly increase their numbers as the ever expanding Imperium has many dangers assailing them, Xenos being the least of their worries, as the galaxy had many unknown horrors to throw at them, and these marines were used as border units of terror, where they were no xeno dared invade or raid.

Each company now called itself Legio, or Legion in low gothic. With the fleet were 3 Legios, Legio Nortica, Legio Polaris, and Legio Iulius. Each named for the world they conquered.

Legio Iulius was undermanned, still green and combat young, they conquered the world Iulius with another Legio as support. This would be their first real deployment, and all 180 brothers were sent with the chaplain to supervise their actions on the ground.

This combined fleet of Xenos and Humans now descended on the frozen surface of this world, away from the shuttle standing near the giant complex, they decided to take it slow, and advance block by block until they reached it, not risking to be ambushed.

They landed some 20 kilometers away from the shuttle as a precaution in a great clearing of what appeared to be, once upon a time in the history now long forgotten, a park of sorts.

First to arrive were the marines, their thunderhawks landed them on the clearing, Chaplain advised against using drop pods, it would be humiliating to fall through the ice or get stuck.

The brothers were swift as soon as the hawks landed they rushed from the transports, faster than the eye could see they took defensive positions, and not a second later charged for the surrounding buildings, busting inside with guns ready.

It was clear, the buildings were frozen, and temperature was some -30 inside, and up to -40 outside where the wind blew harshly. After securing the buildings, they moved forward until they cleared the entire city block surrounding the park. Only when the landing was deemed secure was the signal given for the majority of the force to arrive. First to land were mechanicus followed by the Quarians and Imperial Guard in their frost protection suits.

Agrippa stepped outside and gazed at the frozen buildings, inhaling the freezing air through his mask, he sighed and the warm vapor flew from his mouth. They were smaller habitats, some 3 floors tall and amazingly preserved by the cold. In the distance he could see the huge spires of the city center ominously standing watch over the dead city.

"Deploy the equipment, we will claim that building as our command post" it was a rather big building which the marines quickly scouted. Now the skitarii would make detailed sweep of the grounds and establish their technology there, including warmth devices in order to keep the ground operation smooth.

Various priests hurried about, installing turrets on top of the buildings and other security devices, then the patrols of servitors were sent to move through the city streets. The Park layout was favorable, it contained a huge open area of space where the fleet landed, and surrounded in square like shape by the small habitat buildings each going 2 blocks deep, that entire part was then divided from the other part of the city by a highway which was some 50 meters wide . it was a small urban island split from the city prime, perfect for defense.

The clouds were ominous on this world, and it was white for as long as you could see, the spires were north, and beyond the spire was a huge mountain towering over them, with the dark and white clouds spewing snow for who knows how long.

Many soldiers disembarked, taking shelter in the buildings and installing generators to provide warmth and protection against the maddening cold.

"By the Omnissiah its "cold here, warp must have frozen, followed by my balls. "the Skitarii squad leader spoke to himself as he disembarked from the transport, his words drawing attention of Agrippa.

"I didn't get your name soldier, what is your name?"

"My name lord? Its Felix, Ignatius Felix."

"Felix. Good, you see that big building there Felix?"

"Why, yes I do sir, what about it."

"Well that building is our new HQ, and I need it clear for deployment, you understand me right?"

"You mean…"

"Yes, Felix, I mean you are about to lead a squad of our finest men inside, and check it, top to bottom for hostiles and report back to me."

The smile on Felix's face disappeared.

"Yes lord, I am on it. "he signed the Aquila on his chest and then began assembling his men, shouting all the way. Agrippa couldn't help but smile gently.

Leading his skitarii , Felix entered inside, as Agrippa pondered the world he was on, oxygen was present in acceptable quantities, but the planet is not supposed to be cold, he has scaned the ground and it still has traces of plant remains. This was once a life bearing world, someone or something killed it for reasons unknown.

Within an hour Felix signaled the building to be clear, and equipment was carried inside, the building itself reinforced and fortified, the entire park looked like a military bunker, with AA and AT turrets, and many Anti Infantry turrets and gun emplacements in the buildings overlooking the city prime, nothing could get in without the soldiers noticing it.

They also installed the Vox System, even though the frost and system disturbances they could speak with the fleet in orbit, they could not afford to have radio silence on an inhospitable world.

The dim sun was setting, and the compound was lit by the lights, and for the first time in many millennia life claimed the dead world for its own. Inside the tolerably warm buildings soldiers and quarians took shelter, each to his own building, not eager to sit close to the xenos the humans first took the eastern half of the park for themselves, leaving Quarians to take the right, no quarian objected, for they understood the feeling all too well, their ancestors being nomads for 300 years until their dignity was restored.

Only the Astartes cared not where they slept, taking quarters at the south blocks from the park, this way they could control and oversee both the guard and Quarians from their position. They established fortifications in their buildings and then waited, vigilant and ready for enemy to come, needing not sleep, or food, they stood watch over the camp.

Agrippa did not sleep that night, for the nights on that planet were short, it took the planet 19.3 hours to revolve around its axis, another anomaly, as Agrippa calculated that it once took 22.5 hours to do the same.

He found several data pads, or so he thought they were, his Prothean knowledge helped him distinguish what is useful here or what is not, for in their cycle, most races sought to emulate the Protheans in technology and customs, it wouldn't surprise him these were the same. But it was contrary, scouting the buildings and the remaining tech which was by this point frozen and destroyed beyond repair gave him assumptions that these xenos never met the protheans, as they lacked the touch related transmission and similar technology which protheans exclusively used.

Leaving the remaining xenos tech aside he calculated the routes which will take the least time for expeditions to reach the city spires and find the signal. 20 kilometers is fast to walk on normal conditions, but under frost, snow, ice and who knows what other hazards, it would take at least 5 days to arrive, and 5 days to come back. For they were not in the rush and would not risk another ambush like they suffered on the jungle planet.

During the night, the temperature fell to -55 degrees Celsius, a bone chilling cold descended on the camp, soldiers inside slept soundly as they were happy to leave their ships, even though some grumbled about the cold, but were nevertheless happy to be on the ground. It was warm +5 degrees Celsius inside the buildings.

Quarians needed no heat producing tech as their common enviro suits could calmly tolerate of up to -80 celsius temperature, and their enviro reinforced suits of up to -130, and up to 80+ for warm weathers. These were made for fighting on all sorts of ground situations.

Nevertheless they were surprised as several servitors carried heat generators to the Quarian quarters.

"What is all this Istom? ( quarian name for machine humans) "

"Lord Agrippa wishes to provide some heat generators, we have spares. He says, that even though your suits help, the machine spirits do not like cold, hence, you should warm your quarters. "

"i…. we..we accept gratefully Istom, tell your Lord he has our thanks. "

The servitors did not respond and left two generators on the floor and exited the building. Quarians were surprised by this gesture, and for a moment they all stood there, silently contemplating what had just happened.

Night fell upon the camp, and only auto turrets and diligent servitors patrolled the compound, ever vigilant.

As the old martian poem went "Rest easy body, for machine spirit watches over your dreams.

Rest easy flesh of my origin, for while the certainty of steel exists, no harm will befall you.

Rest easy oh you weary flesh, for you are weak, and steel strong, until the day we are one. "

The dim sun gazed once more upon the planet bringing barely noticeable warmth and the soldiers began waking up, coffees were had and preparations done for the march ahead. The spirits of men were high, and they formed the formation, each squad leader and officer briefed of the safest paths to follow.

Agrippa himself decided to be in charge of the Skitarii and Mechanicus expedition, as they were needed for their technological expertise.

Quarians themselves took left of the Mechanicus, their strong enviro suits whirring with mass effect drives, they were 2 meters tall in those, carrying heavier versions of their common Quarian Energy rifles.

One of the guard remarked how they had two chapters of marines to watch over them, much to the laughter of his comrades, and the rage filled gaze of his commissar who was close enough to hear and promised him he will dig the snow with his hands and not the shovel for breaking discipline in the unit.

The guard was also ready, warm suits, portable generator units, fully charged las rifles made especially for cold weathers so they wouldn't jam. Officers and the guardsmen were ready for march towards the spire.

The astartes were silent, they were ahead of all three columns, spreaded so they could scout ahead of the units and warn of any danger, some 80 of them would do that. While the 100 battle brothers would watch the backs of the advancing expeditions, making sure no harm befalls them.

All units were ready as they could be, and awaited order to move out.

Agrippa inhaled the cold morning air once more, silently observed the spires of the city as they stood out from the city like teeth against the crushing snow which didn't stop falling.

"Expeditions, move out. We march towards our quest"

He began walking in full mechanicus gear followed by his skitarii and other priests, other expeditions also began their slow and steady march against the wind and the snow pushing them back.

Soon enough they were gone from the sight and disappeared into the blizzard.

The Cold march begins…


	18. Chapter 17 Plague Stars : Frostbite

Chapter 17. Plague Stars: Frostbite

The convoy of Imperials and Quarians began their slow march into the unknown, traversing through the broken ice and collapsed buildings, ahead of them the white armored marines blended into their surroundings of ice and desolation of the arctic world, their eyes ever gazing into the horizon, expecting the enemy at every turn.

Their advance was slow, too slow, the ground was slippery, and weak, for nobody knew what was ice leading into some deep chasm and what was solid ground. This planet has been coated in permafrost for 60 000 years, what the snow hides is not known, and the convoy was not eager to find out.

Winds were harsh, through the broken ruins it blew hard, carrying with it particles of ice and small debree, making visibility as low as it could get, the guard used lights placed on their backs to signal their comrades behind where they were. With each step the snow and ice crackled, guardsmen cowered their faces as the wind blew harshly and lowered the temperatures to -50, many were veterans of the campaigns where they fought in the similar climates, some were drafted from the cold imperial worlds of the original universe, they were adapt to it, so they huddled their heads into their coatings and pressed onwards, only wind singing of their passage.

Agrippa pushed with his skitarii, his bionic goggles trying to pierce the ever present wind and frost mist, their rather large force meant they slower than they should have. He pondered the ruins. No weapon markings, no fire, no destruction, the buildings were coated in ice almost instantly; he wondered what could cause such destruction.

They passed a large avenue, vehicles frozen to the ground, windows broken from sheer cold and inside the remains of these unlucky aliens, they were in horrible shape, frost preserved them, but the wind ate away at their remains. From what little remained of them, they could not tell what kind of alien race these were before their planet suffered such apocalyptic event.

A littler further away they discovered a horrible sight, hundreds of aliens huddled around a 6 meter tall spiral structure with 3 meters in width, all were frozen and attached to it with ice, as if they huddled around it seeking salvation.

"What is this tower? "one of the guardsmen said, barely lifting his head from freezing cold and staring at the metal tower.

Agrippa slowly approached, circling it once and looking it up and down.

"I am not sure…if I had to guess, a heat generator. Or, it produced power by burning fuel. "he pointed at the empty innards of the structure. "it is empty. I would assume, they ran out of fuel."

"But….they froze here, why stay near it if its not fueled?"Skitarii Squad Leader Felix spoke while kneeling and looking at what appears to be barely recognizable remnants of an alien hugging a smaller alien, they appeared bipedal.

"Fear…desperation, hope? All of these… They sought salvation at its embrace, even when it went dry, they never stopped hoping, or they desperately hugged its lingering warmth hoping it will be enough to prolong their lives just for few minutes more." Agrippa theorized as he touched the frost bitten steel of the construct, on its surface many words of unknown alphabet were written from remaining coal shards, he knelt and almost sadly looked at the small xeno, its head glued to the reactor, and its face cowered with its small 3 fingered hands. He stood up , giving the generator one more look before ordering.

"Let us advance, sun is setting fast on this world, we must seek new shelter for the night."

At his words the mechanicus convoy continued its march. Finding a rather tall square building not long later, just as the sun was beginning to set down the highest mountains. The buildings itself was highly decorated, its outsides were filled with high tech columns and mosaics made from steel and other alloys, most faded away from the elements, but the building stood firm.

"Scouts, do a perimeter sweep, Squad leader Felix, take our finest man and proceed inside, I want the building safe for lodgings. We will share it tonight with Quarians."

The guardsmen grumbled silently, but when they felt the gaze of Agrippa upon them, they went silent. He knew what they thought, and decided to address it.

"Comrades, I realize your concerns, you would not share quarters with xenos, and rightly so, but do consider this, we are several kilometers away from our HQ, the sun is nearly down "he pointed at the paler light getting engulfed by black clouds" and we are in potential hostile territory. Splitting our forces would make us easier target for our enemies, should they attack they would laugh at our poor tactical choice to split up for the night, and I would not have Mechanicus of Guard ridiculed by our enemies on this world. For to mock our noble organizations, is to mock Emperor himself. And that I will never allow. "he paused for a moment, the guard seemed won over, reminded of their duty and why they fight, their anger at sharing the building with quarians dissipated as rapidly as the heat in this dreaded cold.

"Still, if you have concerns at common lodgings, speak. So our scouts will have time enough to find another building for those who share our suffering and common goal."

He stopped, expecting and waiting someone to speak up.

Nobody did, they all hanged their heads low, humbled by the words from this priest and his words. He waited for a few seconds, they remained silent, the only voice was that of the wind increasing its tempo as it slapped them on their faces and bodies, their mantels and heated uniforms growing whiter by the moment. Agrippa took the moment and spoke once more.

"Let us prepare for the cold night brothers, it is not good to idle in this cold, come now. The buildings first floor is clear, our comrade reported it so, get inside and deploy the heating units. "

He said as he saw one of the skitarii standing away and near the dark entrance to the building, waving his hand signaling the first floor is clear.

Agrippa approached him.

"What is the situation soldier?"

"My lord, Commander Felix says the first floor is clear, but he and his unit are marching to the upper floors he wants to make sure, for now there is no sign of anyone visiting this building in a long time."

"Good. Let us proceed inside, I will survey our surroundings."

"As you wish lord."

Agrippa stepped in, he removed his goggles and his eyes took a moment to adapt to the darkness broken only by the lights coming from huge windows whom miraculously still had their glass panes, this building must have been of great importance for they obviously invested higher quality materials in its construction.

As his eyes adapted to the darkness, he could see the bipedal statues of the alien race which held dominion over this world, he was surprised how similar their statues were to the ones built by the imperium, exalting aesthetics and pleasant musculature of their own race. On the walls were mozaics built from coloured stones and noble metals such as gold, an entire large portion of the wall dozen meters high was coated in symbolism and paintings. He approached one of the decorated walls as his men poured inside the building, establishing gun nests looking out through the huge entrance which no longer held its door.

He looked at the mozaics deeply, seeing the bipedals rising into conscience, developing fire, cutting down exotic woods in forested lands, rivers and seas, building and expanding.

Next picture was that of the alien race symbolicly representing 5 of their members pointing with their hands at the sky and the stars.

Another showed them meeting other races, ships in transit, and inevitable warfare with other galactic powers.

Then the mozaics turn gloom and dark, and rather amateurish in their design as if they began to lack artists.

They show the destruction of various galactic fleets, dark shapes descending onto planets and taking people. Then these same people return and attack their own kin.

The quality of the art took a serious downgrade by the following next pictures as they shown the fleets of this alien empire destroyed by literal painted daemons, gaping mouths devouring metal ships, and the praying of the people for salvation that never came.

The next picture shows the leader taking control ,or so it would seem, people now show worshiping one of their own which holds the star in his hand, next picture he uses it to create something, and people rejoice. He tried to understand what the creation was, but it was formless and shapeless, a blob of sorts, he didn't understood what he saw.

Following picture shows the leader deified or something, far more decorated than in previous picture, he points at the sun of this system. Then…nothing.

Nothing? Agrippa thought. He looked, searching for the next picture, and then…nothing. The mozaics fell to the ground ,broken in pieces and what still stands is eroded. It would be safe to assume that by the end of their race, the quality of materials used to paint or construct was so low it never managed to stand the test of time. What few bits and pieces remain show the dead and the dying, frost taking over and them stuck on this world. The last one shows the dead leader and the blob creation looming over the people who lost their leader. Anything after, or before is ruined. He rummaged thrugh the remains , not noticing his men settling down and turning on heat generators, some of them even worryingly gazing at him as he tried to find remaining pieces of mosaic in the ruined pile, his desire to know what happened consuming him.

He tried to make sense of it all, but failed, he stood and watched at the mozaics , but was shaken out of the trance by Felix.

"My lord all floors are clear. My…lord? "

He turned around, surprised.

"Yes?"

"All…All the floors are clear lord, there is nothing here. Statues and various art, if I didn't know, id say we were in a temple or museum of sorts."

"You aren't wrong, this building is both. But do not speak loud of it, lest you trouble the men."

"Yes lord. "he responded and looked at the mozaics

"All the faces are gone."

"What?"Agrippa asked him.

"Apologies, I was noticing…all the faces are gone, wind must have eroded them."

Agrippa looked and now only noticed this, the faces in all mozaics are faded or eroded.

"You are right…"

"Must have been the wind lord. It must be a coincidence that the faces were hit. "

"Yes, but...only the faces? "

They were both alerted by the sound near the door. One guardsmen shouted at the quarian.

"Why don't you watch where you are going tin head? Look at what you have done!" he stood up and said to the quarian while he pointed at the spilled coffee.

"I am sorry human, it was an accident." He said with an indifferent tone, not quite sincerely.

They both approached.

"What is the meaning of this ruckus? " one wild eyed commissar approached.

"Sir, this Quarian stepped and spilled our coffee on the ground as we unpacked."

"Again, I am sorry, I haven't noticed…"

"Bullshit, you have done it on purpose!"

Several other guardsmen stood up and began approaching, as did quarians from the other side, seeing this can turn bad, one of the commisar took control.

"Enough! I will hear no more of this. You. Guardsmen, fill your cup again and do not trouble us all with your trivialities, have I made myself clear!"

"Yes Sir!"

"I apologize." Quarian added and began moving to the side of the building with his people, watched on by the guardsmen and the commissar.

Commissar came closer to the face of this guardsman.

"One more breach of discipline, and you will walk barefoot for the duration of the mission. Understood soldier?"

"Yes sir."he said coldly.

"We are in enough shit for you to add more to the pile by antagonizing those who will sleep next to us. You get me?"

"I get you sir."

"Good. Dismissed. "

Agrippa saw the tensions are high, he could only hope the mission ends soon to avoid more conflicts.

Guardsmen sat down and began preparing more coffee, while the quarians sat silently in their corner, only removing their masks to eat and drink quickly, before reattaching them again.

The night was silent, only the hum of the heat generators broke the silence and the howling wind of the storm outside.

Outside only the marines were vigilant, taking shelter in many surrounding buildings, carefully watching over the convoy, temperature was reaching -70 outside and they stood watch, unfeeling and uncaring of the elements, the eternal protectors, the Sons of the Emperor. Our guardians.

Dawn rises once more on Shapuria, it is a cold dawn, the frost sealed the entrance to the building, packing snow tightly on the barricades and the encampments, two soldiers died tonight, foolishly giving into winter temptation and falling briefly asleep while away from the generator. They were met standing frozen in place and observing the outsides of the building, there will be no burial for those failing in the line of duty.

Once more the convoy assembles and marches onwards to their fate. After several hours of marching they notice a bridge, it it leads over the frozen ravine which once held a big river, separating the mega city in two which had buildings on both sides. now both the river and bridge are frozen.

The construction still held in place, albeit damaged and worn from the passage of time. Debate was held, they would have to cross it, slowly, carefully, a single mistake would mean the end of the expedition. To circumvent the bridge and go around would cost them more than 2 days through unknown and frozen land.

Weighing their risks, they took the bridge.

First over it were 20 marines, testing the durability of the bridge and were good scouts, they passed without problem, followed soon by the forces of the Quarians and Imperial guard combined, each passing by percentage, no army willing to pass wholly and leave other stranded.

They passed slowly and some 50% crossed after a while, both IG and the Quarian Frost Elite. But then the winds picked up the speed and temperature was dropping rapidly.

"Lord Agrippa, the temperature scanner shows -50 and falling down drastically, the wind is carrying particles from what was ocean at one point, it will plummet the temperature to -100 in the next 6 hours, we are not equipped to deal with such strong frost." Squad Leader Felix said to Agrippa as the wind harshly slapped his hunched form.

Agrippa observed the shaky bridge and the approaching silver clouds, he could not wait a moment, it was all or nothing.

"Order the men to cross the bridge, and pray to the Emperor it holds. Hurry!"

"Yes lord!"

The men of the imperial guard and Quarians began passing in vast quantities as the bridge was strained to its maximum capacity.

"Hurry up you dogs, you want to die on this desolate rock!" one lieutenant inspired his men to pick up the pace.

Soldiers were moving at a fast pace, good 70% were now through the bridge, both quarians and IG, some 30% mechanicus passed as well carrying valuable equipment needed for the soldiers. Majority of the marines were still standing on the other side with Agrippa and his remnants.

On the bridge storm was picking up speed.

"How can it be this cold, this is madness! "one of the Imperial Guard soldiers spoke to his buddy as they both rushed across the vast bridge.

"Not since Pygmea have I felt the frost this strong and…"

"What? You were saying? "

"By the Emperor…."

"What is it Tomius, what did you…."

He turned the gaze to where his friend was looking and saw what was essentially a giant silver cloud approaching rapidly. It was speeding at high velocity at them.

"By the Golden throne! Run!" the soldiers on the bridge began to run across it as those not on it went back. Quarians seeing the incoming cloud also picked up the pace, their uniforms could tolerate of up to -80, even with their impressive weather suits -100 would strain that threshold to its limits and would eventually break.

Agrippa and his men took shelter in the buildings and next to them ,trying to hide from the incoming wind. So did the men on the other side who already passed.

Then not a minute later the storm impacted the bridge harshly, some soldiers were blown from it, falling into the deep chasm bellow screaming all the way into the depths of this 2km deep crevice.

Those who did not took shelter behind the broken vehicles saw their colleagues being torn to shreds ,as the wind carried ice and small dust like particles rending the suits and flesh.

Guardsmen froze to death instantly as the wind particles tore holes into their uniforms, letting in deadly wind and frost inside.

Some quarians felt their tightly sealed suits being torn open by the particles, they screamed loudly even as the cold froze their lungs and suffocated them.

Those unlucky whom were pushed by the wind tightly held onto the railings so as not to fall, screaming for help from their covering comrades even as the cold wind melded their flesh to the metal. One unlucky quarian held and yelled for help, only a single guardsmen nearby as he hid behind the broken vehicle, eyes wide open with terror, the Quarian begged the human to save him.

"Imperati, help me Imperati!" "Imperati was the formal naming of the humans from the Imperium of Man by the Quarian citizens, due to constant shouting of their soldiers in which the quarians joked that every second word was either Imperium of Imperator.

The frostbitten soldier looked upon the hanging quarian being shielded by a wreckage, he thought for a moment what to do, the wind froze his comrades around him and pushed many of them from the railing, but from his position the vehicle behind him shielded both him and the quarian unlucky to be hanging from the rail.

This man fought in one of the campaigns back in the old Imperium, he saw Eldar, and he remembered how one of them saved his life from those who betrayed the emperor and worshiped the daemon gods, one lucky bullet by the Eldar rifle, and his life was saved.

He felt obliged to return the favour. His blood boiled and his instincts kicked into the overdrive, strong legs propelled him forward even as the wind howled loudly, the xeno was mere 10 meters away, but in his situation it is as same as being 10 kilometers away.

Moving as close to the ground as possible he approached, the Quarian held tighter than ever as it saw him approach, fingers slipping from exertion and wind shaking the bridge

"Imperati…" it whispered still unbelieving that a human is coming to its rescue.

Moments later the soldier came close to the railing and tightly grasped the quarian by the wrist, he was shocked as he expected it to be heavier than he looked, and began pulling it up, quarian's legs finally finding solid footing.

The bridge was giving way, old plasteel and titanium wiring finally giving way to the overwhelming frost and substantial weight of the men on it. One of the wiring near them cracked violently and threatened to detach and spill them all on the side.

"Come on damn you, climb faster!" the Guardsmen spoke through clenched teeth even as the cold was barely mitigated by the debris around him.

Moments later the Quarian climbed over the railing and collapsed onto the ground, mildly shaking from fear and frost. He noticed now that it was a female quarian by the shape of its body. The Quarian gazed at him, even though her mask he can saw that her eyes were locked onto his, open wide, filled with fear.

"No time to rest! Up!" the soldier shouted against the howling of the wind and grasped the Quarian underneath his arm and began to propel her forwards with him, they were close to the end of the bridge and could begin to hear his comrades shouting from the other side, encouraging them to hurry up and get over here, the other side of the bridge where Agrippa stood was not visible from his side.

They pushed through debris, humans and quarians dying around them or doing the same, trying to reach the safety as the bridge violently shook with the pushing of the wind.

They came to where the damaged vehicles end.

It was 20 meters long sprint to the safety, and no vehicles to cover them from the deadly frost. He breathed violently as he thought what to do, one of his comrades tried to make a run for it, making scant 10 meters before his legs melded with the frozen metal, he could only impotently shout and scream as the frost began to freeze him from the legs up, a horrifying sight, the bridge was 100 meters wide and many soldiers tried to escape.

One grouping of imperial guardsmen took the wreckage of a 5 meter long vehicle, and began to push it towards the other side, trying to shield themselves from direct wind, metal screeching and dissolving in the frost as they have done so, one slipping on the ice and falling from the cover of the vehicle, only for his now revealed face to snap freeze, much to the horror of his comrades whom could only see him struggling and holding his face even as his hands froze as well.

The soldier could only look as he had no ways of passing safely. Then the quarian spoke.

"Imperati…I can create a shield, it won't last long, it will protect us somewhat, stay next to me and trust me." He looked at her with his blue eyes, her own almost pleading through the mask as they struggled to survive.

He grasped the quarian again as she used her omni tool to erect a blue glowing shield, which instantly came under stress from the wind, they jumped from their cover and began running together towards the shouting mixture of humans and quarians, the shield reaching critical in moments.

So close they were, he thought as time seemed to slow down, scant moments later the shield collapsed and they were under direct push of the wind, with his last strength he grasped the quarian and pushed her violently into the cover, he himself still 5 meters away, he tried to run but felt his air gone, so cold it was that he could not inhale, he tried to move but he felt his rubber soles sticking to the ice, he knew this was it.

But from the strong wind and ice, a huge figure appeared in front of him and as if nothing picking him up, his rubber soles detaching from his boots and throwing him into the crowd of people hiding in between the buildings, he flew for a second and fell into the snow amongst his guard, whom swiftly used overcharged lasguns that elicited warmth and placed two of them at his chest while he was already suffering from hypothermia.

Seconds later they dragged him near the running generator which the engineers began to turn on zealously to provide necessary warmth for soldiers to survive.

He shook as he tried to gather his wits, inhaling the air viciously as his lungs once more could draw breath near the generator. His organs suffering immense shock from the wind and frost, his survival was now in question.

the tall figure was again in front of him, one of the Marines broke cover and rescued him, their armour far superior to anything, this frost did not impede them at all.

Then the female quarian rushed next to him and turned on her omni tool.

"What are you doing!"one of his colleges said as he pointed a las pistol towards her, causing a slight tension in the nearby humans and quarians whom grasped their weapons.

"It is omni gel, it will help him survive!" she shouted

"back off from him! do not touch him! "he continued to yell back at her, both factions at a standoff.

"Iustius…"the lying soldier said, Iustius still glaring at the Quarian ,weapon held high.

"Iustius…let her."

It took several moments for Iustius to lower his weapon. " I hope you know what you are doing…"he said to the prone soldier.

She quickly began to apply medigel to the glares of both quarians and humans, and to the surprise of all, the Guardsmen Frigus became stable again.

She laughed lightly as she saw that her application worked. "Imperati…you will live."

He gazed at the masked xeno and silently said "thank you…"

Then the moment ended as one of the soldiers yelled. "The bridge! Look! "

Then the second wind wave impacted, this one crushing the already weakened foundations which were already strained to the max by all the men on it.

"The bridge…..it's giving in! Screw the wind, rush to the other side." One of the guardsmen shouted.

Almost all men began sprinting to the ends of the bridge, Quarian and Human alike running for their very lives.

Under the strain of wind and men, the bridge, after standing for better part of 60000 years finally began collapsing, carrying with it into the abyss all the lost souls still stuck on it. Screaming and shouting as they were falling into the deep darkness of the long canyon. Bare few reaching the end and escaping before being dragged down or killed by the wind.

From the other side men chanted "Emperor protects "constantly as they could only look in horror as their comrades died from the fall.

An hour later the wind died down and temperature normalized at -60, survivors from both sides approached the destroyed bridged and looked with despair down into the canyon ,hoping to find some survivors, but only thing they saw was ice and mist, and over encompassing darkness which covered the very bottom of the canyon.

They were now separated, majority of the IG and Quarians passed through the bridge with 1/3 of the mechanicus, in total some 5% fell with the bridge, men, xeno, all died to the elements.

Agrippa hailed the teams on the other side.

"Brothers, the mission stays the same, we must not lose heart, proceed into our next rendezvous and fortify the position, expect our arrival."

"Affirmative lord Agrippa, we will do as you say. "one of the mechanicus skitarii said.

Then the sad remains of both groups went on their way, those past the bridge went into the magna tundra, having to circle and enter the rendezvous through another side, this one being frozen solidly by the storms in the last few days.

Agrippa's group decided to take the alternate route, hoping to follow the canyon and find another crossing.

As the wind sang its sad song, both groups marched on their way. Followed not by the Sun which covered its face through the thick dark clouds, but by the grizzly and unforgiving winter seeking to take the lives of those who walk its domain.

Followed by the grim thoughts of their comrades on the other side, Agrippa and his comrades advanced forward, following the canyon and hoping for a new crossing.

Passing by many ruined buildings, vehicles and unfinished heat generators they have left the demolished bridge behind, the canyon was wider as they went, and some considered getting back to the bridge and heading in the opposite direction, but soon enough they have saw potential crossing.

Approaching it they contemplated what to do. Their crossing was by its appearance a subterranean highway system, with vehicles abandoned outside and inside the tunnel, it was dark inside, night wakes many terrors in the primordial conscience of man, and this one ,on the planet so alien, woke horrors long forgotten.

"I don't like the looks of that place…" one of the guardsmen spoke. " I was born on a hive world filled with such tunnels, in a world like this, this tunnel could only go deeper and deeper into the ground to avoid causing tectonic catastrophe from many vehicles passing through it. This is bad.."

"But it is our only way to the other side"Agrippa added.

"My lord, I did not mean…"Guardsmen quickly apologized

"Be calm, I understand your fear, but we must overcome it." He waved the guard, calming him down. " Bring the servo skulls, they will scout ahead of us. We march now…"

Agrippa took the first steps ahead and down the opening of the tunnel, followed by his loyal skitarii, and soon enough by the rest of the column.

Inside of the tunnel was expectedly dark, but dry, no snow beyond the opening of it, at the entrance was bunch of debris thrown quickly as to block the wind coming from the opening of the tunnel.

One of the skitarii looked at his portable radar, watching it chart the course through the tunnel as Servo skulls passed through the corridors.

"Trouble my lord. " he said after he saw one of the servos disappear from the map.

"What is it? "Agrippa asked him.

"Servo skulls are descending down more and more, as they stray away from us and deeper into the ground, their signal is being lost due to depth"

"Curious…this tunnel goes deeper than I thought, what about the servo we sent to find us an exit?"

"It is still advancing, there are many obstacles in its way. "

"Let us hurry then, I would not idle needlessly in this place."

The column marched steadily, slowed only by the remains of the xenos forms still stuck on their vehicles, they passed few unfinished generators which would provide heat. Agrippa pondered all this, the cold must not have been so instantaneous, for they tried to warm up , he made calculations, the crops must have failed, followed by the civilization on this planet, soon enough those that remained sought to warm themselves with any possible means. Books, wood, everything was burnt that could be found…but it was still not enough.

After a while of uneventful walking they have reached the end of the tunnel. It was sealed. Centuries upon centuries , the resulting cold has ruined the supports and the tunnel collapsed.

"Shit…" Felix said. "Cant we blast through, or move debris out of the way."

"Do that Felix, and you risk causing chain reaction bringing the entire tunnel on top of us…."he looked at the rusted metal and stone through which he could hear the cold wind whistling.

"We go around. Did the servo skulls show any other alternative way? " he spoke to the radar skitarii.

"Yes my lord, one of the maintenance tunnels goes around and near the primary exit. Though this will cost us the day, and we would reach the end only when night is upon us."

"Beats trailing back and hoping to find another crossing. "Felix added.

"indeed. "Agrippa agreed. "let us march onwards, we have no other choice."

Their spirits constantly assailed, the ever stalwart companions followed without question.

Soon enough they reached the dark and moist corridor leading deeper into the tunnels.

They began their descent into the bowels of earth, stairs built from dura steel still held firm, untainted by the frost, but the moisture caused them to be slippery and one of the guards nearly fell into the darkness bellow, caught by the commissar before he was out of reach. His comrades pulled him up, he was out of himself from fear, and shaking when he came face to face with the commissar. The stern face of the discipline officer gazed into his eyes, taping him lightly on the shoulder.

"Watch your footing son, the Emperor has need of you yet." He went on his way as he said that. His friends nudged the frightened soldier as if to imply he got lucky, they went deeper and were surprised to see excavated walls and cavernous spaces, filled with crates with long rotten supplies.

Collections of artwork, statues, technology rusted and beyond broken, all was strewn across the long corridors and hallways, side rooms filled with religious iconography devoured by mold and dust, weapon armory, almost empty with remaining weapons so destroyed by the passage of time they turned to dust when mechanicus priests tried to pick them up, some tablets remained in one of the room, placed where force field once stood, Agrippa took them and with his Prothean cypher integrated them into his circuitry, reading them faster than normal human can with his binaric machine spirit. Concerned by what he read, they carried onwards without hindrance, witnessing many ruined relics of a dead race, now serving as tombstone for those who tried to save them.

They saw another opening deviating from their road, and to their surprise it was massive. In it various buildings now laid in ruins and in the center of it was a huge towering generator, whose opening would went smoke to the surface.

"What is this…" Felix saw as they entered the huge cavernous opening filled with many xenos relics and constructions which now laid abandoned in darkness.

"This is what became of the last of this race. Their struggle to keep warm, to survive, and endure. It ended here, with these makeshift buildings. I imagine the food ran out and they starved, or they lacked things to burn and were claimed by the cold. Let us leave the cursed to their fate, do not disturb the remains." Agrippa said as he stood with his friends at the opening to this giant underground city.

"Do you think there are more of these cities across the globe? "one of his junior adept priests said, curiosity was always the strong point of mechanicus.

"If they do exist, I am sure they share the same fate. In our journey here, we saw no wood anywhere, the planet is coated in permafrost, eventually they ran out of things to burn. Perhaps some still remain deeper into the crust of the world, but I am not to eager to disturb them if there are cities still. Let us leave them to their own devices. "

"Lord Agrippa, look." One of the junior adepts pointed at the huge painting on one side of the wall.

"By the Omnissiah…" one of the grouped adepts said.

"It seems cold is not the only enemy of these people, this confirms my suspicions. "Agrippa spoke.

"The people of this world were desperate, in the dying decades of this race they have made something born out of madness, it was both a slave and food."

"But…how can it be both?" Felix asked.

"the scientists concluded the world will ran out of food soon after the world cools down, and they knew their race cannot endure the cold, so they created something organic, born from the cloning vats that could work through the deadly frost and still serve as food. It was the ultimate slave."

"How do you know this my Lord, and what happened to them ? " Felix was still dumbstruck by what his lord knew

"I analyzed tablets and data storages that still remained, the drawings in the building we slept in, and here, this last picture cements it all. The final nail in the coffin came from the same race that sought to survive at any cost. They have made their own destructor. "

"Made what my lord..."

Agrippa activated his own portable light, maximizing its glow, shining bright light on the wall the picture was made visible to all, it was the painting of a huge bloated mass of tentacles and open mouths, in the picture it was devouring the members of an avian race much akin to turians which lived during the times of protheans. The painted aliens fought against it, or tried to at least. It was painted in such a way as if to warn and frighten everyone, or worst yet, as a warning to all…

"Shayogan" Agrippa said coldly and loudly.

Murmurs from the assembled groupings of soldiers could be heard.

"Madness, what gripped these abominations to do that." One of the adepts could hardly contain his disgust.

"Madness indeed brother, in their darkest hour they were thinking only of what they can build to survive, but not should they do it. Their slaves turned against them, I dare not consider they still exist after so many years."he gazed upon the dark walls and ruined buildings.

"We must leave, quickly."Agrippa spoke to all.

"Contact." One of the marines broke the tension.

"Form a firing perimeter" another of his brothers said and they pointed their guns at the buildings.

"What are they even…." Another guardsmen responded as he gazed upon the city where the shadows danced.

And then from the holes in the walls, from the ceiling and the floor and even from the ruined buildings and hiding places, the primordial horrors began crawling out.

"We must leave! NOW!" One of the adepts yelled, his composure shattered.

"I don't think that thing will let us" Felix pointed to the 6 meter tall blob being which began extending tentacles, it was huge and bloated, shapeless, it resembled nothing a sane mind could produce, its body was see through, it was tall and from its flesh it formed long tentacles with mouths on the end filled with viscous teeth, even from afar it focused its tentacles at the humans and quarians, it could finally satiate its endless hunger and it seemed all too eager to do it, dragging itself slowly at its food.

"and that thing…and that… "Felix began to speak as more and more creatures appeared. In the split second from when he spoke there was roar of fire and marines opened their weapons against the monstrous creatures, their transhuman instincts screaming to fight back against the encroaching beings.

But the flesh of the creatures was like gelatin, their explosive rounds could not stop them, blowing a hole only to be filled with the massed gelatinous flesh seconds later.

Another marine approached with his Plasma weapon and shot at the being , hot searing energy impacted upon the formless enemy and began melting it.

"Yyyiiiiiiiiiiiiirghhh" the monstrous creature screamed as plasma melted it into nothing.

"Utilize fire weapons, proxima 1 to 3, engage and cover the retreat" marine spoke to his brother, and then those who carried plasma weapons and flames began pouring onto the constant incoming mass of flesh trying to stem the tide.

"How can there be this many! Wouldn't they starve! " one of the retreating soldiers said.

"not if they slept during the millennia you dumbass, don't think about it ,run!" his friend slapped him onto the helmet urging him to run.

"Felix, lead our men to the exit, we must not let them chase us into the open plain during the night or we will all freeze to death. Establish the fire perimeter as soon as you reach the exit, we are counting on you."

"We? You must escape my lord, let me stay"

"No! I must see personally that they are sealed here. Go now! No time to argue" he shouted at his subordinate whom idled a second or two and then began to urge his men to fall back, following the radar skitarii and the map."

Agrippa turned towards the mass of flesh approaching and the Marines still firing a concentrated fire onto it.

"Lord Agrippa!" Felix yelled and Agrippa turned around.

"Take this!"Felix shouted and threw one of the flamers he took from a guard. "Good luck my lord!"

Agrippa smiled at the directness of his officer and attached the flamer to his arm.

"This tunnel is barely holding, the moisture here and the frost above will be its end, we must place our explosive devices at these support columns. "he pointed at two massive stone columns built to sustain this cavernous space , one was at the entrance to the cave, and another was damningly deeper into it some 50 to 100 meters into the city.

With their superhuman thinking one of the marines grabbed enough explosives to level a hive block and taking his plasma pistol and chainsword began his wild sprint towards the city pillar.

"Brother Amigus will see to it that our enemy remains buried, let's make his sacrifice count. Brothers fall back to the rally point. "

Some guardsmen remained and tried to fire their lasguns into the beings to no avail as the wounds sealed fast, and one of the creatures approached too close, using its tentacles it began devouring and sucking those poor souls it came across,

It grasped one of the soldier and began pulling him, his comrades grasping him and pulling back.

"Cut the tentacle! Cut it Emperor damn it!"he screamed as he was dragged

"Aye! "one grasped his combat knife and began hitting the tentacle to no avail, each hit caused the opening that soon filled up and healed

"Its not working!" sweat was streaming from his brow as he hit the body of the monster again and again.

He was suddenly pushed back by a violent force, and one of the marines used his power sword, cutting the blobby mass, the creature recoiled, energies of the sword burnt it, not giving it time to consolidate the marine approached and began slashing at the violent being as the soldiers dragged the traumatized soldier into their ranks.

"For the Emperor!" he shouted as he pushed his krak granades into its mass of flesh and violently jerked his hand back to release it from the grasp of the tentacles.

He jumped behind nearby ruined building and the monster exploded from within.

But not matter how much they fought and burnt the creatures they kept coming, abominable products of science were enigma to them, for the foolish race that made them allowed them to reproduce like Amoeba with mitosis, their caloric intake was so abysmally low that they could not reproduce madly and could hibernate for millennia waiting for times to get better, products of a demented mind, it takes one good look at the spawns to know that those survivors of the avian xenos race that made them were soon devoured by their slaves, the cold wasn't the biggest enemy in the dying days of their history, it was madness given flesh.

Many soldiers fighting were devoured into its body which was like glass and see through, to the horror of all they could see their comrades dissolving rapidly inside them, trashing around before dying from immense pain.

"Atticus…"the creature spoke, almost like a guttural whisper, impersonating the voice of the guardsman it swallowed. .

"What the frak! How did it know my name" he said and lowered the gun.

"Atticus….Frieeeeeeeeendddd."it shouted loudly and grabbed him by the leg. The monsters seemingly devoured a piece of memory from their victims, enough to trick someone to make it weaken their guard and devour them.

He began to be pulled into the creature, he activated his inferno grenades and the second he was swallowed the granades activated and burnt the monstrous being from within.

Agrippa used the combination of his Melta and Flame thrower to great success, these creatures fear the greatest friend of mankind, Fire. Their flesh was scorched and their ranks thinned, but some creatures upon devouring soldiers began to divide, to create more of their kind, it was a losing battle.

The sole marine carrying explosives pushed hard against the creatures seeking to reach the main pillar.

One creature tried to grasp his leg, a single plasma shot in such proximity melted the creature before it can tighten the grip, one jumped from the ceiling on top of him seeking to crush him under its weight, he simply swung his sword vertically and divided it in 2, both sides shuddered and died from shock.

Passing fast near the buildings and ruins, his quick mind saw a giant 6 meter pile of bones and ancient viscera, the remnants of the inhabitants of this underground city, they were all devoured millennia ago by the creatures, their bones spat out and piled on top, almost symbolically to represent the blob creatures.

Quickly glancing back he saw the soldiers were safe distance from the explosion to happen, and then he looked up and saw that through the openings, so many creatures kept pouring in, he saw them crawling through extremely small places, their bodies adapting like gelatin and passing through small vents and holes before taking their normal shape.

He thought to himself, that even if he could collapse all of this, and if there remains a small hole, the creatures will keep following them endlessly. In a millisecond, gazing at his surroundings, he knew what he must do.

He reached the pillar and attached one of the 4 explosives he had, it would be more than enough to collapse it , but not stopping a moment to think, he knew what he must do to seal the deal.

The first pillar in the opening of the city was rigged to marines command, he would activate it when he placed the one at the city pillar, but he sprinted away from the column, deeper into the city, towards the gigantic metal construct ,the heat producing generator which was the beating heart of this colony.

Agrippa saw the marine running deeper into the city, and understood what he is trying to do, as did marines comrades.

"Brother Chaplain, I request permission to stand and guard our retreat." One of the marines spoke to his captain

"Denied, we are all retreating from here."

"Brother Ignatius is my blood brother, I gave an oath that where he goes I will follow, in the Emperors name. I ought to follow my oath."

Chaplain took a moment to think, his oath to the Emperor is paramount to everything else, he made his decision, and is now in the Emperors hands.

"Permission Granted, die well in the Emperors name." his Chaplain said and their hands met in a shake to shatter the worlds.

"Marines, fall back!" Chaplain ordered and his marines provided fire cover for scant few humans still standing and guarding, soon enough they were all on their way towards the surface.

"The Emperor protects" the sole marine guarding the exit from the doomed city said.

Then the violence escalated ,wielding his flamer and sword he began to cull the creatures that thought to follow the retreating soldiers and leave the city, after uncountable millennia, they finally had food again, and were not eager to let it leave now that it's this close.

Deeper into the city marine sprinted hard to the generator that was some 100 meter away from the city pillar ,it still hummed gently with residual energy, no doubt powered by the geo thermal energies of this world.

He activated the countdown of the explosives on the pillars and those on his chest, they were ticking their final countdown.

His speed was getting slower, the ground was moist and sticky, no doubt from the bodily fluids of the creatures, it was here where they bred through mitosis, he could feel thousands of hungry arms seeking to devour him just centimeters away from him, but he didn't stop for a second , rushing against the great generator he shouted one last time

"For the Emperor!" and rammed the giant metal construct, the explosives followed swiftly, and he went into the blaze of glory, the huge generator was disturbed by the immense explosion and it too shuddered, energy build up for millennia and lack of maintaining finally caught up to it. It finally released all its anger and pant up rage, from the cold steel heart of the generator built by a doomed race, fire roared once more and its top spewed smoke and brimstone, the roaring of the generator shook the earth and the cavernous system began to collapse, giant rocks fell onto the creatures smashing them, then the timed explosions generated at the pillar in the city it too collapsed and the cavern was beyond point of return, some creatures began to crawl back into the holes they appeared from, albeit too late.

The marine at the entrance was overwhelmed, his legs grasped tightly in the blobbed mess as it sought to burn through his armor, his rage and fire in his heart not dimming for a second as he spewed blessed promethium and his weaponry at the overwhelming numbers, he saw the generator and heard the explosion , he knew his brother was dead, but he did not felt sorrow in his heart as he knew that all just servants of the Emperor go to him.

Before being wholly overwhelmed, he saw the generator explode in immense explosion, the wrath of the dead xenos unleashed upon their exterminators.

"May we meet on the fields of Kosovo brother, amongst the saints of our Chapter..." He said even as his form was finally giving way to the overwhelming numbers.

The creatures released him for a moment to gaze at the fireball expanding from where the generator was, they collectively screamed in unison as they knew they were doomed.

Mortally wounded marine just expanded his arms, his broken armor and flesh paled in comparison to the strength of his spirit; he embraced the fire and the peace that came dying in the Emperors service.

Flames purified the doomed city and abominable creatures inhabiting it. Such was the explosion that the cavernous system caved in, and outward explosion blew through and upwards, lava spewed from the core drained by the generator in its last death throes, it began to fill the canyon where the river once was, the darkness of the canyon was illuminated by the lava, and the bottom of the canyon was filled with bones and remains of the dead alien race, and blobby creatures frozen in place by the damning perma winter, only waking from their hibernation as the molten earth touched them, burning them and causing them to scream as they could not escape due to extremely low temperatures of the bottom of the canyon, one by one, the lava consumed them all. The canyon now glow with red light of the lava, swimming at its bottom and coming from the giant opening caused by the explosion of the generator.

Explosion could be seen from orbit, and many pilots saw the frozen planet burning at one spot in the city, they tried to contact any party down in hopes of explanation, but they were deep into the ground for vox waves to reach them.

Soldiers were running madly towards the exit signaled by the servo skull, their only companions residual explosions in the background and earthquakes, they prayed to the Emperor that these walls hold enough for them to escape.

"Holy Emperor, faster, move faster!"one of the guards shouted at his comrades.

"What is this…is it warm here?" another noticed as he began to sweat profusely.

"It's not you idiot, we are sprinting that is why you are sweating, now hurry it up!"

" Quickly, I can see our comrades in front of us, we are catching up to them!"

The back column of guard noticed something.

"Look, there is light behind us. Did the marine survive? "

Few of them stood and watch, and to their horror they saw the bottom pipes burst open and fill the room with lava. To their surprise the level of lava rose, the old pipes made from plasteel lost their strength through millennia of disuse, and now burst open when lava flew through them once more. Unknown to anyone, the Generator itself was the final attempt of the richest and smartest peoples in this part of the city to warm themselves following global catastrophe, its pipes were running deep, all the way to the molten core of the planet, and now all the pent up pressure from millennia caused the core to destabilize and pump lava in maddening quantities to the surface.

"Holy shit!" one of them exclaimed.

"Don't blaspheme! RUN!" his friend ran and almost dragged him by the arm.

"Hurry it up you idiots! There is lava behind us, its rising! " they shouted at the comrades in front of them.

"I told you it was warm here!" guard told to his friend.

"yeah, well il give you a medal later, now pick up the pace!"

They climbed faster and faster, sweating as temperatures constantly rose.

"We wont make it, the lava lever rises faster than we can climb! " one of the adepts noticed. They saw even as they climbed massive plasteel built stairs that went downwards to the lowest levels.

Some quarians noticed the precarious situation, after debating amongst them on the run and spoke.

"Imperati Agrippa, your people have done enough, it is our turn to return the favour."

"What do you mean Quarian? "

"My friends and I will use our tools and erect the shield and stop the lava from rising, at that opening" he pointed where the stairs ended. "Afterwards there is another climb similar to this one, if we do not do this, then it will all be in vain and we will be consumed by fire."

Agrippa thought for a moment and knew it was the only way, he himself thought how to stop the flow and would attempt to weld some metal to the entrance to stop the lava. He knew the quarian shield could do that much better.

"Honor and Glory Quarian, it was an honor." Agrippa said and extended his metallic arm.

Quarian hesitated for a moment, not expecting this display of respect and embraced his arm.

"Honor and Glory Imperati. Keelah se'lai"

They then sped up, and after they all passed through they continued to run, followed only by the gaze of the 5 doomed quarians, whom then promptly erected the shield wall to contain the lava spread.

Their fate was sealed, even as the companions climbed the final set of stairs, lava began to push against the wall, for if the wall collapsed their comrades would all be dead.

Temperatures rose up drasticly, so much so the Engineers of the Quarian Reich felt like they will boil in their suits while holding the wall with their omni tools.

"it was an honor " the Engineer said as he fell to his knees, his flesh seared inside his suit, he set his omni tool to hold the wall for as long as it has energy, one by one, all died from heat and collapsed, their omni tools still glowing brightly as even in death, they held the line for their comrades, be they human, or xenos.

After the last climb they saw the snow covered exit, they were inside a vast hangar that no doubt held the materials to build this place, to their surprise, their climb was faster than anticipated, it was still sunny outside, and they quickly established perimeter, after checking if they are alone they went outside, bright light reflecting from the snow hurting their eyes.

They saw one of the bigger buildings not far away and all began to run through the open field towards it, marines first to check for enemy traps, and seeing there are none, formed the defensive perimeter around the building. They all piled inside and searched for hostiles, finding none, they finally could rest for a moment, only now did the sun began to descend behind the mountains brining darkness and much needed rest to the survivors.

"Will this nightmare ever end…"one of the soldiers told his friend, while they sat down "I just lost my brother down there!" he slammed his fist hardly on his own helmet, grief overtaking him. "

One quarian approached him, it was the same quarian which had "accidently" kicked the coffee pot days before.

"Imperati…."

Eyes red from grieving, the imperial looked at him, clenching his teeth hardly like an animal ready to pounce, he gazed at him eyes full of rage, but before he could respond the quarian did something.

"Imperati, what your brother and your kin done for us will never be forgotten. As a gesture of my respect I will do this." He said and knelt gently on one leg; he removed his helmet with a silent hiss coming upon detachment and placed it by his side.

He then inhaled the fresh cold air, and locked his eyes with the imperial lying on the ground. "in my culture, connecting suits with another quarian meant the utmost trust and respect. you have no suit Imperati, but you breathe now the same air I do."

He removed one of his gloves and touched the snowy floor, gently scooping particles of perma frost mixed with dirt, and caressing them with his finger. "and my fingers now touch the same soil yours do."

Quarian has noticed blood on the pants of the imperial, he or one of his comrades have been wounded, he continued.

"Your blood graces the soil of this planet and your heart bleeds. " he took one of the knives he had attached to his back, moving ever slowly with his hands he neared it his open hand and quickly sliced his palm. Clenching slightly the purple liquid began to drip onto the ground, mixing snow, dirt and blood. "now my blood soaks the soil, in respect for your brother and what he has done for us, for our people."

"May our bloods merge together in unity, for those we love, and for those we must protect, and for those who are not among us."

With his bloody hand he gracefully painted a symbol on his mask, representing the sign "Iriminikis" or "unity" in the tongue of Quarians. He attached the mask to his side, and did not place it back on his face. Slowly standing up, the imperial as in trance following suit and standing face to face, the entire building was silent, all were looking in utmost silence and respect for the ritual occurring in front of them, even the silent, stoic marines kept watching what occurred with something akin to curiosity, they respected brotherhood and such acts of respect were admired by them.

Now standing face to face, they looked each other in the eyes to the silent gaze of everyone around them. With that, the quarian extended his hand in a very humanlike gesture while it still bled mildly.

The imperial soldier gazed him in the eyes, then in his arm, his comrades silent observants to the event.

After considering what to do for a moment or so, the old imperial veteran of many wars, embraced the hand, for he knew, that even amongst the detestable alien races he saw in his life, one thing he could respect in them was a very human like concept which many of them lacked. Honor.

They shook their hand by grasping each other by the forearm, much akin to ancient Roman tribe of now long gone Terra.

Many quarians present bowed their heads slightly as they bear witness to one of the customs very rarely seen in these dark times.

Imperial soldiers, while some held disdain for what occurred, were very much silent, respectfully so, soldiers to soldiers, they respected the gesture they almost never saw, and from another race at that.

Even the commissars, whom would sanction such cohabitation with alien races with extreme measures are now letting this pass, for this would forge a strong battle efficiency between the Imperial Guard and the Quarians, there will be no repercussions to this, for military and soldier honour was sacrosanct in their eyes, so they were taught at the Academia, regardless of the race, honour among soldiers should never be curtailed.

They held their hands, understanding of each other to the silent gaze of everyone else, before releasing the grip in silence and returning to their own comrades, one by one, they all took positions in the building to rest, very carefully as if seeking not to disturb the respectful atmosphere ruling over the place, as night finally descended on the planet, only sound coming from the building now was a gentle hum of the heat generator warming the weary combatants whom found common ground with each other.

Morning once more comes and besides the vigilant guards and the marines, companions wake up to the smell of familiar smells, the brewing of coffee, the gentle hum of the generator which warmed them up from the piercing cold of the outside, they gather their bearings and equipment once more expecting word to march onwards.

Agrippa takes the moment to talk to his vox caster.

"Did we heard from our comrades on the other side?"

"Yes Lord Agrippa, we have, our message yesterday after we exited the tunnels has been received by the larger group, I have promptly warned them about Shayogan beings and advised them to avoid any subterranean buildings at all costs. They have not reported any contact, and their advance towards the target has been going efficiently.

Also, our position is not that far away from them, by crossing the tunnels we have emerged into the city, but they had to circle around many ruined buildings and pathways before making similar progress.

Per your command they will advance onwards and secure the building with the Quarian scout team and await our arrival, which if the weather is optimal will take us small 3 hours delay compared to them. "

"Very good Voxerius, join the group, we continue onwards."

"Lord."the Vox Caster bowed and returned to his fellow adepts.

The group then advanced from the building and towards the signal of the lost quarian scouts. Both humans and quarians were marching side by side, no longer disunited, the events of the past days brought them closer, much to the grudge of the older veterans of both parties.

They have passed many ruined buildings and pathways, not long before they found the faint tracks of the bigger group from whom they were separated at the bridge, this boosted the morale of both the quarians and humans at the prospect of meeting their comrades.

Then the ground shook violently, an earthquake shattered many old buildings and collapsed them, some on top of the poor soldiers that happened to be next to them, its violent shooks didn't last long, but enough to collapse several ancient buildings and open a rift in the ground.

" What was that, I thought this planet was stable!" one of the admech adepts spoke to his comrade.

" It was…the generator, could it do this?"

soldiers and marines alike tried to remove debris to see if there are any survivors under the rocks, Agrippa and his Admech priests came to the open rift in the middle of the road, it led deep into the bowels of earth, and down at the very end, red light and smell of brimstone, it was lava bubbling several hundred meters into its depth.

" Strip-mined" Agrippa spoke " They have strip mined their planet beforehand into history, adept miners it would seem, too adept. They have excavated resources to the point where their planetary core was destabilized. And the generator was like a trigger putting it all into motion. This is not good"

" What does that mean lord Agrippa? " his fellow adept spoke

" it means my dear Ruffinius that this planet is once more tectonically active, it probably was highly volcanic back in its day, this frost just cooled the planets temper, but has not extinguished its fire.

This would explain why the ruins only exist on northern and southern poles of the planet, this was once extremely warm planet, volcanism must have been common.

We must hurry , we can't idle as we risk this entire city collapsing on top of us."

37 men died that day under the ruins, and companions had to leave their bodies , buried under a foreign soil as they carried onwards.

They have carried onwards, slow steps on the snowy fields where once asphalt used to stand, they passed empty shells of living buildings and prosperous bureaucratic centers which once housed tens of thousands of workers, factories which now were caved in due to permafrost placing pressure upon their roofs with the passing of millennia, a veritable graveyard of once was civilization.

Passing through all this, and as if the weather was gentle enough,there was no wind and no snow falling, visibility was good and they entered and aved what they have saw.

Statues tall as skyscrapers in the shapes of the xenos which once ruled the planet, boulevards constructed in such a way that they could handle thousands and thousands of people marching in unison on them.

Surrounding them were beautiful buildings, not built from plasteel and other modern materials, they were built from the stones of this planet, and their beauty was still untainted by the passage of time as the already white stone of this world gained new shine from the snow which gently filled the insides of the buildings and coated its walls with ice.

The companions looked around them as they saw intricate columns displaying the histories of this race, its wars, its technological advancements, its history and its soul.

Statues created in such a way that resembled ancient statues of terra, built from white stone and still standing, so long after the fall, still standing, their hands raised to the skies and the destiny to the stars which once held future for this race.

Some, toppled from the elements, built from metals which had not taken well to the frostbiting cold of the world, some gazed at the face of this race, avian like with smooth facial features, beaks where mammalian mouths are, eyes unlike those of a bird, were humanlike, a quick scan from one of the adepts proven the presence of a colour washed away with time, blue, green, purple, so many eye colorations, even the companions could not be idle and untouched by the beauty of this place, so uncannily preserved when compared to the rest of the planet. The aliens had feathers in shape of hair, also with many colorations, green, yellow, red.

This enormous place was something out of an antiqued dream, the soul of this race was invested here, where their leaders, their priests and kings, their Gods now rest.

Even here, where art meets tradition, there was sorrow, the trace remains of the xenos were in the ground, everywhere, scans from adepts show that thousands, maybe millions died here, their remains calcified with the soil, once can only assume as to their purpose here, perhaps some resorting to death came here to die in peace, or perhaps some of these ancient figures were their Gods, and they came to pray here, one cannot know anymore, for time swept away even their dreams and aspirations, even their culture and tongue, only the soul of this place remains ever shining even when forogten by all, the remains of those who once walked the stars, their monument and their plea to the galaxy, almost as if saying. We existed, witness our deeds, and remember us.

This long avenue led directly to the great building where the quarian scout ship was, and it wasn't long before they caught up to the other part of the imperial and quarian army, greetings were exchanged and tales spoken of what both groups survived.

The march past the bridge was uneventful one, the larger group had to circle around and enter the city from another entry point, they passed long fields filled with remains of the broken vehicles of war, charred remains of the hulls and other metallic scrap, they spoke of many tens of thousands of vehicles which now littered the great plain and frozen wasteland outside of the city, not willing to enter the field due to possible mines placed in times long gone, they avoided that place, finding giant hangar filled with rusted and beyond broken flyer units, there they rested for the night.

Then they found an entrance into the city, and with swift march over more or less clean highway came upon this place, they entered the city from the west, and Agrippas group entered from the south, emerging from the tunnel inside the city.

Now that both groups are united they established perimeter around the great building, establishing improve bunkers in the ruined remains of the habitats that encericled this place, they sought to dig fox holes and trenches before proceeding, but the ground was so frozen it would be an impossible task, and according to their estimates, it is noon already.

So they encamped, entrenched and prepared. Agrippa took Felix , and few of his best men, accompanied with them were bigger party of Quarians, engineers and soldiers, it was their scout ship and they knew how to open it.

They came upon it near the great building, which itself was decorated with statues and frozen pools of water, long dead plantlife and broken pillars made from softer materials. Whatever the building was, it was obviously important to the dead race of this world.

Agrippa spoke when they approached the shuttle.

"let us open your vessel, extract information from it, I do not want to enter that building without at least having any understanding of what they searched here."

"Indeed Imperati, let us get to it." One of the Quarian engineers said and began to code his omni tool, sound from the shuttle indicated the command was accepted, but doors did not move.

"Bosh tet, the doors are fused tight with the frost, we must open them up, it will take time…"

"Not necessarily, if I may?" Agrippa spoke to the quarian, which gesticulated with his hand towards the shuttle. And with no sound beyond the binary which the quarians cant hear, three silent servitors rushed to the door and began cutting it through with their tools, within 30 seconds the door was detached with violent thud by the servitors.

Agrippa and Quarian engineer went inside, besides being frozen it would seem the shuttle was in working order, luckily the new quarian ships held a specific type of black box in them, one which can take majority of temperatures without problem, detaching the frozen panel, the engineer took it out and connected into it.

"Interesting…"

"What did you find engineer?"

"There is nothing here…nothing that would sanction the landing on this world. I don't understand, this seems like…."

His line of words was violently cut by the sound of gunfire outside.

"What the blazes… "the quarian spoke and Agrippa rushed outside.

From within the giant building came forth hundreds if not thousands of degenerated monstrosities of the worst kind, humans, quarians, krogan, salarian, all rushed and opened fire at the entrenched imperials and quarians.

"Hold the line! "One commissar stood up from his position waving his sword, "not one step backwards! Drive the spawn into the abyss"

But the bullet wounds took an arm, impacted flesh, opened a hole in the bodies of the charging things, horrendous damage and to no avail, infused by the might of the plague God they surged onwards, many rotting or mutated beyond belief, carrying swords, melee weapons, rotting armour and guns, they cared not for the damage done upon them, they simply sought to kill their healthy kin.

"By the Omnissiah!" Agrippa shouted as he saw the influx of the monstrosities. "It's a Trap!". The quarian shuttle was halfway between the building and the positions where the imperials stood and fought, between hammer and anvil. He saw that the Quarian engineer was still coding his omni tool into the black box ,and shouted at him.

"Leave that thing! We must retreat, we got incoming!"

"No! the black box has a timer for self-erasing, if we leave now all of it will be for naught, I must break into it deeper, if for nothing else to discern where this shuttle went and who set up us a trap. You must protect me while I work imperati, trust me!" the Quarian was wild eyed as he worked as fast as he could.

Agrippa gazed at him for a second

"Whatever you have to do, do it fast! "

He said to him and equiped Kalmador's plasma pistol and went outside.

"With me brothers, we must buy time for the engineer, it is paramount to our success!"

Then they unloaded onto the incoming horde, plasma impact was deadly to the flesh of the abominations, but the plague ridden humans kept shooting at them ,and Quarians erected shields to protect from incoming fire as they were stuck on the open.

Felix and his Skitarii began to fire from their advanced rifles and caused great purge against the oncoming creatures, while the plague humans sought to be careful in their approach, worst were Krogan, their bodies swollen with pestilence and blessings of the plague God they carried gigantic sword seeping green ooze from them and kept charging, blood rage fueled into overdrive by the chaos tainted magics, even as they suffered beyond mortal wounds they kept coming.

Quarian soldiers used their very own rifles and fired at the creatures, much to their horror their very own kin charged them, masks long gone, insect like mandibles in place of mouths and dozens of eyes like spiders on their faces, their hands mutated and 3 long green claws made from bone were now on their hands in place of fingers, they were fast, fastests of the abominations that attacked and were closing ground fast.

Salarians dragged themselves slowly, they bodies swollen and filled with acidic juices, they dragged their bellies with their hands across the ground, and when within certain range their bloated heads opened their mouths and they spat towards Agrippas group.

Impacts on the shields were bad, only technical expertise of the Quarians prevented them from shortcutting and leaving Agrippa and the others without any sort of defense against ranged fire.

Spits and bullets were incoming in great quantities , one quarian impacted with the spit began to shake as acidic liquid melted through his suit and onto his skin.

"N-no! No! Arghhhh, get this suit off meeee!"he screamed as he waved his arms across the suit in order to remove the liquid, causing his arms to burn and melt

"Iyeeerrgggh…."was the last sound he uttered as he collapsed onto the ground ,only sound now coming from him sizzling of the melting flesh.

"Holy Terra!" Felix shouted as he saw him melt. "Fire! Keep Firing! Don't let them close"

Humans far from the shuttle were also pressed hard as creatures rushed from all entrances of the building, there were many of them, this was elaborate trap and it worked. They could not provide any meaningful assistance to Agrippa who was further away from them.

Marines were effective in decimating the ranks of the attacking enemies and their bolters were highly effective against the rotting flesh of the enemy.

"Lord Agrippa will die!" one of the skitarii in the back lines spoke as he saw his position getting encircled.

It was at this moment that one of the flag bearers of the imperial guard stood up from the position they held, he waved his flag and shouted.

"Attack fellow soldiers, Unless you wish to betray your standard to the enemy, I, for my part, will perform my duty to the Imperium and to my Lord."

With that he rushed onwards. Shamed by their lack of action the entire line surged forwards, commissars leading the soldiers towards Agrippa and his position.

Quarians, seeing this occur, and unwilling to be cowardly in the face of terror, also gathered their wits about and rallied by their officers charged along the Imperials.

"By the Homeworld! Let us show these Imperatii that we are made of stern stuff, let us show them how Quarians fight, for the Fuhrer Arahi! For the Quarian Reich! Uraaaa!"

"URAAAA!" they screamed at the top of their lungs and were sprinting fast against the enemy.

Both armies charged and fired their weapons, but to their surpise they were not the only ones charging, they were quickly outran by the Emperors finest. Space marines now rushed alongside them, carrying dual handed chainswords in a display of martial courage, they went past their comrades and towards enemy lines, violently impacting against the enemy and beginning to rip them apart with their power axes and chainsword, melee experts showing why Space Marines are the Emperors finest as they put fear into the bones of the plague carriers.

Situation was getting bad near the shuttle as krogan managed to reach into melee range, swinging their huge axes infused by the very might of disease and carved through the Quarian soldiers, splitting them in half easily.

Thanks to the chaos and its power these krogan now easily stood 3 meters tall and were stronger than before, seeing no other way to stop them ,several quarians jumped on top of him, stabbing him violently with their knives and driving him to the ground, but he simply wouldn't die and trashed around trying to shake them off, punching one in his helmet and breaking it, he flew two meters away and landed on his back.

"Urgh…"he spat purple blood on the ground and gazed again at the Krogan fighting his comrades trying to shake them off. He discarded his now broken mask and got 2 of the granates he had on him and ran up to the Krogan who by this point shook off the quarians and was beginning to stand up. He came to him ramming him with his shoulder and they both fell. Now eye to eye, the Quarian screamed at him as he pressured both grenades on top of his body. "RAH TAH LOOOSS!" he screamed the name of Quarian God of War directly into the face of the monster as purple blood and spit mixed and impacted him on the face, an instant later and they were both gone in flames.

Other Quarians seeing heroic sacrifice of their comrade all raised their fists to the heaven and shouted as well "RAH TAH LOS!"and then they engaged the closest enemy.

Chaos Quarians used their huge claws to rip apart anyone that were close enough, but the combat mad quarians drove them to the ground stabbing them repeatedly with their knives, shooting them before getting close and lobed their granades which decimated the enemy.

Agrippa used his left hand and fired a plasma shot onto the nearest Chaos infused quarian which exploded violently, but to his right another one screaming jumped and swung his claws at him, he raised his right metallic hand and thunderous clang could be heard as bone impacted metal, the creature wanted to swing its other hand but was stopped in its tracks as one of the metal limbs on Agrippas back turned around and grasped it by the head, twisting it to a sick crunch, breaking its spine and motor functions as it helplessly fell to the ground, grunting as it could no longer move. Agrippa raised his right foot and stomped on its head, the creature twitched as the sick crunch crushed its head.

One by one, men around him began to die, and Felix was struggling to keep the enemy away from his lord as they kept coming, one Krogan creature kicked Felix into his chest sending him flying away and it swung its huge axe in order to finish the job as Agrippa couldn't aim due to being jumped by a wild eyed plague ridden human whom also came into melee range.

Felix could do nothing as his rifle fell far from him, and almost impotently crossed his arms expecting to die, seconds later the krogan creatures was dead, its head exploded by a well-placed bolter round. He saw as the krogan fell backwards and away from him, and saw marines passing besides him engaging the enemy around Agrippa, chainswords swinging wildly and cutting through enemy.

One of them stood up next to him and extended him a hand, which he grabbed eagerly, then the marine was rushing forward again. Felix found his rifle and joined the battle.

Combined arms of Humans, Space Marines and Quarians was too much for the creatures, and being obliterated they fell back into the building, much to the cheers of the victorious soldiers.

Then green light flashed from within the building itself and ground began to shake.

"Another Earthquake? " Felix said as he caught up with Agrippa.

"No….much worse" Agrippa kept staring at the building.

Seconds later the building exploded from within, and taking its first uncertain step of birth was something born out of primordial nightmare.

With four thick stumpy legs, filled with pusses and boils, came stomping out of the ruin a gigantic plague creature, some 30 to 40 meters tall ,bloated beyond belief, the smell caused men to retch, and its appearance was enough to frighten those of weak heart, from within the torso came 2 rotten and fat arms, its belly was split open and intestines spilled out freely, opened intestines spawned more nurgling creatures. The creature itself had no discernable origin, it was all xenos and human races In one, mutilated and fused by foulest of magics.

The building was preset as a giant ritual trap, as people died fighting, the magics were fuelled by emotions and despair, hope and rage, and with so much death and suffering the ritual worked, and the creature was summoned.

The creature spoke

"IULIUM ASTOROPERMIO GECENTRI ET! AMBNIMI ERATI! " in a language unknown.

"DOOM HAS COME TO YOU ALL" before saying it in a language of low gothic which even the frightened quarians understood.

At that moment the quarian engineer came outside form the ship.

"I Got it have the data, and..….What the hell is that!?" he shouted pointing at the towering abomination.

"Fight for your lives!" Agrippa said and fired at it.

Then the creature attacked, swinging its long arms and tentacles , breaking bones and killing humans close to it whom fired helplessly onto it.

Plasma weaponry doing considerable damage, but against such huge abomination it was all but pointless, nurglings latched onto quarians and humans alike drawing them into the mass of flesh all too eager to devour them.

And then the horde resumed its attack against the companions all the while newly spawned beast kept pushing onwards.

"This is Agrippa! We need reinforcements, deploy fighters with fire based weaponry, we are under attack!" he yelled at his vox to the fleet.

"Affirmative! Fighters are dispatched, hold on!" voice from the other side confirmed.

"Easier said than done…"he said as he saw the lumbering monster approaching ever nearer.

"Skitarii! With me, concentrate fire at its head, drive the fiend.

Guardsmen, I want suppressing fire at the advancing horde!

For the Emperor men! Make him proud this day!"

"For the Emperor! "was heard from thousand throats as soldiers get to their bloody business.

Skitarii used their high tech rifles and aimed their projectiles at the beasts head, firing at its many eyes, Felix encouraging them to take it down. This tactic worked, as the beast was too busy shielding its eyes from the oncoming fire instead of concentrating on killing.

The Guard took firing position and picked their targets with impunity, charging monsters were shot down one by one even as they came in seemingly endless numbers.

"Get that mortal rolling!" sergeant said to the soldiers still behind the lines. "I want to see them blow up in pieces! FIRE!"

Then the roar of portable mortars was heared and the whistling of the shell was the last thing plagued creatures noticed before their bones turned to dust and their limbs were scattered all over the battlefield.

One taller than usual plague quarian whom displayed worrying levels of intelligence poised his sights on his normal kin as he exited the shuttle pod and made his way to where he was, charging violently even as lasgun beams pierced his body, blessings of the plague God giving him unimaginable endurance.

"Ccccomeee to me cousinnn!" he barely uttered to him, his vocal cords deteriorated beyond belief, all the while picking guardsmen with his arms and throwing them around, his strength surprising for someone so decayed.

"By the Homeworld, get back beast! " he said and enacted an energy shield just as the plague quarian swung his arm towards him, reflecting the blow and forcing him to fall on his back, he took that chance to run away.

"Cousiiiinnnnnn!" the plague quarian bellowed, spiting green viscera and infectious spit as he got up and went after him, still taking shots from the guardsmen even as they blew away one of his arms.

He ran after him admist the chaos of the battle, he was far faster than his normal kin, long legs with mutated bones and muscles, which even when rotten were far stronger than the normal quarians, but was suddenly stopped as his head turned to mush from an impact of the weapon he never saw coming.

Collapsing on the battlefield the quarian creature was dead, killed by the Chaplain of the White Eagles, he gave the plague monster one last glance as he concentrated onto the plague titanic creature still trying to protect itself against the concentrated fire of the skitarii, and began to march slowly towards it.

Then the flyers from the fleet came by, 5 of them did a fly by and fired their load of promethium rockets at the creature and striked at it, the explosion was violent and it burnt the side of the creature, doing horrific damage, but not enough to kill it, the side of it regenerating due to all the mass of flesh and bodies it constantly consumed as it fought on the battlefield.

Then the monster did the unexpected thing and just ripped open its belly, ejecting gore and bodily fluids everywhere, even towards the skitarii whom tried to dodge, some failing, and instantly melting into piles of bones all the while screaming in pain.

"Pitiful….insects….you dare!" it spoke angrily even as its mass almost healed up from the fighters doing their sortie.

"YOU DARE!"it bellowed and used one of its tentacles, smacking the quarian scout vessel to the side, launching it fast into the nearby building where it exploded.

The monster looked pleased with itself as it knew it will feast this day well and bring many new faithful into the embrace of the grandfather Nurgle.

"I dare." The voice strong as thunder came from among the companions.

The creature turned its head to see who was this new challenger, and saw that the Chaplain of the White Eagles passed through his men, two krogan beasts trying to stop him, he planted the crozius in the head of one of them, caving his skull in and killing it, the other swung its axe horizontally, but the Chaplain dodged it. He then used the Crozius and swung at its knee breaking it, the creature fell face first onto the ground, not even getting the chance to get back up as its head was caved in by the massive boot of the marine.

"You will fare no better little creature! I am the blessed of Nurgle, his first exarch on this plain and…"

"His first, and his last, you die today." The marine spoke and cut the monologue of the monster as he charged it.

Heavy boots stomping hard as he sprinted, a swing by the tentacle, the marine jumped over it, then came the fist from above, Crozius meeting it mid-flight and shattering it with its blessed energies, the creature screamed and clenched its teeth before trying to vomit over the chaplain.

"Blessed Emperor, protect me!"he prayed and the Crozius glow brightly, its energies shielding the Chaplain as the spit washed over the energies surrounding him, and leaving him unharmed.

He came up to the beast and struck him with full force on its right, it yelled viciously, feeling the burn of the blessed energy as it seared its unholy flesh.

To the amazed look of all the companions the Chaplain began climbing it with great speed grasping the foul and tainted flesh of its body.

"Get off me ,worm! " the creature bellowed and tried to shake him off by shaking violently to no avail, then it tried to use its arm but was once more met with the crozius punching it away. The Chaplain was now close to its face, it tried to spit at him, but he dodged it by jumping on the other part of its flesh and began its climb again.

He was now near its face.

"You talk too much for something within striking distance." The Chaplain said as he landed the first blow onto its face to the immense roar and pain of the hurt monster, his swings were fast and each was stronger than the last, the creature tried to shake him off ,slaping him on the back with its tentacle, but to no avail as Chaplain was now fully dedicated to his duty, landing blow after blow the monster screaming loudly more and more, he grasped the Crozius in both of his hands lifting it above his head and yelled before swinging it downwards.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!"

Then he lowered his weapon to a sickening crunch and the crackle of energy field of his weapon, the monster just gargled mildly then toppled backwards and collapsed, the Chaplain safely jumping away and landing on his feet.

The monsters ,seeing its leader dead began to fall back, shot all the way as they retreated into the building.

Men began cheering victoriously as they defeated the dreaded enemy of their race.

"Imperium! VICTRIX!" the flag bearer, the one who led the first charge stood up upon the pile of rubble nearby and yelled towards his men, lifting the flag high above his head and displaying it proudly. fists went up into the air and jubilated crowds repeated after the standard bearer.

Even the Quarians joined the hailing and celebrations, as they congratulated each other on the victorious battle, quarians to imperials, imperials to quarians, this victory belonged to all. Only the stoic space marines were looking at their Chaplain with utmost respect as he joined their ranks and was approached by Apothecary to tend to his wounds.

Agrippa reported to the fleet and ordered orbital bombardment on the building where the monsters retreated.

He then came to the Quarian engineer standing next to his men celebrating.

"Do you have the data?"

"Indeed I do imperati, come let us discuss."

They retreated away from the loud crowd of happy soldiers.

"What do you have Engineer? "

"The location where this shuttle went and when it came here, its flight data shows when it entered the plague stars region and then its erratic path led it to a star system here"he pointed at the map displayed by his omni tool. "from that point onwards the shuttle came directly to this planet, the distress signal was sent a day later."

"And about the Quarian which survived?"

"I wouldn't know, but I can assume he was tortured and then sent here to drag us, he was beyond broken when he came, it's a miracle he managed to utter the name of this planet, as for the word Shayogan he used, maybe he tried to warn us, but was unable."

"I see. Send the coordinates to the fleet, we will make haste to this system, I have a feeling this is where we will meet our quary."

Then the soldiers were ordered to fall back away from the building. When they were within safe distance, the ships in orbit obliterated the building and nearby building blocks, making a huge half kilometer crater in place where the building was.

Seeking to evacuated the men before dark, they dispatched transport vessels onto the nearby frozen plain where they will pick up the men, the original Landing zone was dismantled fast and the imperium evacuated there, now only the heroes of this expedition entered their ship.

Quarians marched towards their own transport pod, one of them a female medic was among them, she was shaken by someone yelling.

"Quarian!"

Naturaly the entire column of quarians turned to see who was shouting, it was the imperial guard whose life was saved by her actions at the bridge. He ran up to her.

"I would not let you depart before thanking you properly. "He said and extended his arm to her. The Quarian column slowed its entering to watch the scene occurring, on the imperial side, the soldiers did not object, they fought with these quarians, bled and died with them, they would not disgrace the moment this soldier had, even the Commissars respectfully ignored what he did.

She took his hand shyly. "I…you are welcome Imperati"she smiled behind her mask, she was young, one of the new Quarians born on the new homeworld.

"What is your name ? "he asked her. She was taken aback by his interest.

"Amelia…like the sun of our new homeworld." Her eyes found themselves staring at the ground, flustered a bit.

"Amelia…"he said, feeling how nicely her name came across his lips. I owe you my life Amelia, I am Frigus. It was my honor to have fought by your side. "

"And mine as well, thank you." She said to him

"May you always find glory in battle and victory, until the day we meet once more." He said. "here, take this."he offered her a piece of small reddish wood. "this wood grows only on my homeworld, back….well. it is a long way from here. I want you to have this."

"But….i couldn't Imperati…" she shook her hands

"It is customary for my people to offer gifts from our homeworld to those who offered us a great help on the battlefield. And you have saved my life, I could not think of a bigger help than that."

"Thank you…Frigus, I accept" she said and gently nodded her head.

"Take care Amelia, Goodbye."he said and made few step backwards and then turned and went to his men who themselves entered their transports shits, followed by her gaze on his back. She looked at the piece of wood, and stashed it in one of her most secure filters on the suit, she was then tapped merrily on the back by one of the other quarians and they proceeded to enter the ship.

The vessels took off before the night came and brought deadly cold back onto the surface of the planet, they left its orbit, the soldiers were tired, and they only thought of resting on the ships as they approached the main fleet.

And on the main deck, Agrippa reported to the fleet along with the Quarian Engineer who extracted the information, in detail they spoke what happened there.

"What shall we do with the planet?" Tiberius spoke as he looked at the white planet bellow them. Joined by the gaze of his high officers and allies.

Aurelian spoke next "It is a tomb for a dead race, and it carries dangers beneath. But I say there is no need to destroy it, the tectonic movement caused by the generator explosion will change the landscape of the planet in the future."he pointed as there was now lava gloving on the dark side of the planet in the big canyon and on other places, volcanic eruptions occurred all over the planet.

"Perhaps…" Tiberius spoke "Let this planet remain a tomb for a dead race, deploy the probe with a warning radiating from it, let the galaxy know this planet will bring death to any who land there."

They all agreed after a smaller debate. The probe was launched from the capital ship of the imperium and began emanating its signal in low gothic and other languages of xenos. it warned of considerable dangers if trespassed upon.

The fleet charted its new course found by the data pad and prepared to depart.

"Let our hearts be brave, and our spirits strong, the Emperor protects, as we bring death to his enemies even in the darkest corners of the universe. " Tiberius spoke and ordered the fleet to move to the mass relay before departing the dreaded system where only beeping of the probe echoed in the vast emptiness of space.


End file.
